But You Hate Me?
by rippedXjeans
Summary: Like rain and sunshine, like summer and winter, this is the story of the 4th year of Albus Potter and that one girl he can't seem to get away from . Please review!
1. September 1st

ALBUS POV

9 am. I lazily swung out of bed, glancing at the calendar, yep, 1st September, time for 4th year. I stared at the ceiling, listening to the clatter of pots and pans, Mum was probably making pancakes. I wasn't going to lie and say I wasn't looking forward to Hogwarts again, because I was, but the first thing I thought about was the Yule ball, and next year was OWLs which we would no doubt be preparing for this year. I took a liking to potions, and was probably one of the best in my class, alongside Scorpious, who just happened to master everything.

I walked across my neat room (everything had to be in order) and looked in the mirror fixing my hair. I had, according to Dominique, become the topic of gossip of girls in my year. I didn't really know what to think about this and was still a bit confused as to why it was me and not some of the other boys in my year. Dom said it was because of my fame from my dad mixed with my 'good looks', so I should just take it as a compliment. After I was satisfied with my hair I slowly got dressed, yawning distractedly in the process. I slipped on my jumper, Grandma Molly knit me for Christmas last year, with a dull green 'A' in the middle. I glanced out of the window, to be greeted by the surprising appearance of the sun. Which is odd, I must point out, for an English September.

At last I lugged my case downstairs, only to be bombarded by Lily half of the way down, and she crashed into me with quite some force. "What the hell, Lil?!" I gasped, after she winded me from banging into me so hard. "Oh hey, Al! Guess who's in her second year?!" her brown eyes glittered with excitement and she looked so ecstatic about the whole second year thing i couldn't help but smile. "Let me guess… You?!" I faked a curious expression. "Oh haha Al, just because I might get to go to the Yule ball in my second year." She said simply, and began to make her way down the stairs. Wait what?! "And with who?!" my big brother instincts kicking in. She stopped in her tracks and turned around. "Oh you know, Lysander." She shrugged nonchalantly. "LYSANDER?! He's 2 years older and one of my friends in my year?!" I shrieked. "What got your wand in a twist? Calm down, it's not like we're dating yet!" I gaped at her. "YET?!" "Whatever, Al, I can date whoever I want." Lily smirked.

"Who's dating?!" I heard my dad shout from the bottom of the stairs. It then occurred to me that Lily and I were still at close proximity on the stairs glaring at each other. "No one!" Lily said hurriedly. I was about to interrupt when Lily gave me her signature glare. For a little girl she sure has some fire in her, probably from my mums' side. I ran down the stairs two at a time with my case thumping behind me, followed closely by Lily and her case, her auburn hair flying around madly in loose curls. James was probably still asleep, typical.

I greeted Mum with a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug; after all I was officially grown up after my huge growth spurt in the summer, and then turned to the table hungrily at the site of pancakes. I had to be quick because Lily was a monster in the morning when she was hungry, and she had already had about 4.

After about 10 minutes of breakfast, James made an appearance, looking like a wild/dead animal. "Oh James, how nice of you to join us!" Lily beamed, her voice dripping with sarcasm. He glared at her with his tired eyes. He was half dressed, missing a top layer. "Maybe next time you can join us with the correct amount of clothing on!" Lily smiled. I had to laugh at my baby sisters' sarcastic humour. "Lily, behave yourself, and one pancake at a time please, sweetie." Mum said, ironing Dads shirts in the corner. Lily rolled her eyes, receiving a glare from Dad. "Right, 20 minutes everyone! James, for god's sake! Get dressed and where is your case?!" Mum seemed to be getting impatient, not a side we liked to see. James groaned into his hands and muttered something about 'upstairs' and '5 more minutes'. Lily on the other hand, was ready by the door, glowing with enthusiasm and impatience. I trudged upstairs, grabbing my wand and robes from Mum. I heard Lily yelling at James to leave her hair alone, and I sighed heavily. It was going to be a long journey.


	2. The Arrival

ALBUS POV

It was an eventful journey to Kings cross, and Dad got a bit confused in the muggle car. It took him weeks to pass the test without confunding the examiner. The journey started with James and Lily re starting the argument about who could eat more, immature, if you ask me. I stared out of the window for the majority of it, not wishing to get involved. There was a moment where Lily's cat, Marble, clawed at James' head for a few seconds, Lily giggling in delight. I really doubt that she is not evil sometimes.

"Here we are kids!" Dad smiled, waking me from my daydream. The car stopped outside the station, very bad parking, as well. I sighed as Lily scrambled over me to go and greet Hugo, who was standing on platform 10 alongside the rest of his family, about to go through, pausing at the sight of Lily. I smiled at Rose, who had shot up as well in the summer, her once short red hair now down to her waist.

"Hey, Rosie" I greeted her.

"Hey, Al. Good summer? Mine was fantastic, we went to Aunt Angelina's house for two weeks, and I and Roxy had the best catch up ever! You know she's had her eye on that new boy from Gryffindor? Well yeah he asked her out and then…."

I drifted off from Rose's endless nattering, typical, nodding every now and then, but more focused on the wall I was about to run through, my stomach twisting. I had never really liked it, ever since after the Christmas break in my first year, when James thought it would be funny to make me run at the wrong wall, and don't even ask how he managed to deceive me. I still had the scar on my forehead.

"And then she just said that she would rather be friends! Can you believe it Al, I mean she had a gigantic crush on him and then- Are you even listening?!"

"Yeh, of course, erm, we should go?" I suggested.

I waved to my Dad, and Aunt Hermione, who were chatting further away, Uncle Ron scolding Hugo for knocking his owl off his trolley. My own owl, Felyx, was sitting comfortably on my trolley.

As I turned back around, Rose had already gone and followed James and Hugo through the wall, with Lily swiftly following.

"Bye, Mum" I said, hugging her lightly, and then gripped tightly to my trolley. Deep breathes. I ran headfirst at the wall and felt the weird swooshing sensation as I came out the other side. I blinked twice and walked towards Rose, who was in deep discussion with Dom and Victoire, Victoire was in James' year and Dom was in ours.

"Hey Dom, Toire" I greeted my cousins, hugging them lightly.

"Hey Al" Victoire smiled, the politer one of the two, and Dom smirked and went back to gossiping with rose. I spotted Louis flirting, as usual, though I remember Rose telling me something about some girl he actually liked. I sighed and walked past Lysander and Lily, who I glared at, deep in discussion about the Nimbus 2100. They were standing at quite a close proximity. I spotted the blonde heads of my friends, Scorpious and Lorcan, over the crowd of people. I waded my way through the sea of students, all in a rush to say goodbye and leave, some mothers crying.

"Hey guys, how was your summer?" I asked cheerily, as I had finally reached them

"Oh the usual, hunting for the Crumple Horned Snorkack, and visited my Granddad at Ottery St. Catchpole." Lorcan mused, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. Lorcan was a bit of a troublemaker compared to his twin brother, and he was a good friend. His leather jacket slung over an unknown band t shirt, with very tattered jeans. Very.

"Yeh, I just stayed at home most of the time, though I did visit Louis in the first week" I forgot Louis and Scorpious were quite well acquainted. Scorpious would like to be more reckless I think, but his parents were trying extremely hard to clear the Malfoy name.

We decided it was time to get on the train, so we were now wandering down the train, in hope to find an empty carriage. When we did I had very nearly collapsed. I slumped in the corner, opposite Lorcan and Scorpious, the latter of which had already fallen asleep. I was surprisingly hungry, then remembering how Lily and James' eating contest had left me with only one pancake. I got up and wandered to the door, leaving Lorcan listening to his odd muggle contraption, which I think he said was called an iPod? I couldn't remember. I decided to attempt to find the trolley.

On the way down the corridor, whistling to myself, I was abruptly stopped by a conversation from a compartment I had just passed. I slowly turned around and walked a bit closer.

"Oh whatever Rose, no one really cares what boy owled you over the summer, Roxy, knock some sense into your cousin, please" A sarcastic girls' voice said.

That was followed by a grunt from Rose and a high pitched giggle from Roxanne. I would know that voice anywhere. I had completely forgotten. Of course! No one else's voice was that sarcastic, witty and intelligent sounding. It was her.


	3. A Ball Breakdown

HEATHER POV

"-Roxy please knock some sense into your cousin" I finished, smirking.

I returned to my book, an old copy of Quidditch Through the Ages, as I was the Chaser alongside Roxy for the Gryffindor team. I was halfway through the chapter when I heard something creak from outside the door. Apparently Roxy and Rose were oblivious to this, so I excused myself to go to the trolley, leaving my book behind. I tucked my blonde hair behind my ear, and curiously stepped outside my compartment, only to bump into the one person I was hoping to avoid.

"Oh great, karma sure has it in for me" I muttered, against the idea to look Albus Potter in the eye, I just stared at the floor. I didn't _hate_ him that much. I just found him intolerable. Possibly due to the fact that he beat me in every test, quiz or challenge. Or because last year at the burrow for Christmas, he put green hair dye in my shampoo, courtesy of a truth or dare game his stupid cousin Fred started.

"What do you want, Potter? Or have you just come to 'beat' me to the trolley as well? You might as well, seeing as you beat me at everything anyway!" I smiled sarcastically.

"Oh grow up, Heather" He sighed, I just smiled childishly at him, flicking my blonde hair behind my shoulder.

"Only when you do, Al! Okay nice bumping into you and all, but I am scared of the fact that moron might be contagious so I should be going"- I said quickly, wanting to avoid further discussion with him.

"Moron? I'm sorry, who beats you at everything?" he questioned, smirking at me. I glared heavily at him, spinning around furiously and back into the compartment, leaving him there, basking in the glory of his victory in our argument.

I slammed the door to the compartment with such a force, to see that we had another arrival with us.

"Hey Heather, how's it going?" Manon smiled, her green eyes glistening, her brown hair in loose waves and her Nirvana band t-shirt loosely fitting on her frame. She was one of my best friends, and along with Rose and her knowledge of everything that went on in the school, and Roxy with her obsession with pranks and Quidditch, we were some sort of gang, I suppose.

"Hey, not very well actually. Guess who I had the pleasure of meeting outside!" I said, waiting for someone to catch on to my sarcasm. Manon was the first to answer. Typical.

"I bet it was none other than our lovely Slytherin friend, Albus Severus Potter?" She smirked; she was friends with him because of her close relationship with Lily, which started over the summer.

"Correct, except the friend part. He is pure evil." I moaned, moodily. Not the way I wanted to start the term, to tell the truth. I decided to clear my mind of it all and start a new conversation. It turned out Roxy already had, and her and Rose were talking about their Yule ball outfits, which I have to mention was taking place in a few months. _Months. _Why on earth were they talking about it now? Manon looked at them with little interest as well, holding an upside down quibbler, and she caught my eye and shrugged.

"I don't even think I will get a date!" Rose sulked. Obviously, that wasn't true. Rose was one of the prettiest girls in our year, and it was unlikely she would get less than 20 invites from all sorts of guys. Anyway we all knew Scorpious had liked her for ages, and would probably ask her she was just a bit too blind to see it.

"Of course you will! Scorpious will no doubt ask you, Rose. Don't be stupid!" Roxy comforted a hysterical Rose. Even Roxy knew it was Rose was overreacting.

"No he won't! I swear he likes Manon anyway!" This caught Manon's attention and her head shot up from the Quibbler issue she was reading. She looked just as shaken as Rose did, then confused, then decided to listen to the conversation

"Pahaha! As if Scorpious would go anywhere near Manon with you around!" Roxy giggled and we both laughed. Manon rolled her eyes and went back to her Quibbler and Rose still looked confused and shaken.

"Whatever." Manon said. Oh my God could you get anymore oblivious as Rose. Then a look of realisation crossed Rose's face, and she muttered an 'of course' quietly. Everyone knew that Scorpious and Rose liked each other, she was just in a bit of a 'state' at the moment. Hormones. We decided to settle down for the rest of the journey to Hogwarts, though there was still some confusion in the air. I had almost forgotten the whole encounter with Albus, and the excitement of the term ahead was starting to set in.

Fingers crossed I wouldn't bump into him again.


	4. The Awkward Part

ALBUS POV

"Wake up, idiot!" Lorcan yelled at the sleeping form of one Scorpious Malfoy.

We had arrived at Hogsmeade station, and I had just about forgotten my encounter with the girl I currently refuse to name. The weather had become cold quite quickly, and seeing as I was now in my robes (after a quick change) I was pretty freezing. My hair was still sticking up on end, after my unsuccessful attempt to tame it. Twice, I had tried. Scorpious stirred from his slumber, he also had woken up briefly to change into his robes. Lorcan, after much convincing, had changed out of his casual outfit, and was now in his blue Ravenclaw robes. He unfortunately was not in Slytherin with us, but I don't think he cared. He was still whistling along to his iPod, which was frustrating.

"I think we should go, don't want to miss the carriages, like last year" Yawned Scorpious. I nodded my head in agreement and yanked Lorcan to follow us. We emptied out of the compartment, and as we passed the carriage I had seen the girls in, it was empty, and I let out a sigh of relief, I did not want to be bumping into _her_ anytime soon. We filed off the train, and dragged our tired feet along to the carriages. Much to my dismay I spotted the girls, with the addition of a punky looking girl, who was one of Roses friends because I had seen her at The Burrow around Christmas, they were all waiting for a carriage.

"Okay, guys, over there are some girls I really don't want to" – I was interrupted by Scorpious, who much to my horror, yelled, "Hey! Rose!"

I was ready to slap him. Rose turned away from her conversation with Roxy, and gave us a wave. Scorpious began to saunter over, but I yanked him back and shook my head. He glared at me, and walked over to them, Lorcan following him, giving me a sad smile on the way. It is not often I get infuriated but when I do it is often with Scorpious and his ways.

Reluctantly, I followed them over. Just as Heather flipped her head round and saw me.

HEATHER POV

"But no one will ask me!" Roxy concluded, after Rose decided to continue her hysterical breakdown that no one was going to ask her. Rose then began to comfort Roxy, Manon just rolled her eyes, and we were about to continue or conversation about muggle bands, when I heard a familiar voice. Scorpious?

"Hey! Rose!" Her head snapped up and she smiled widely at Scorpious and gave him a small wave. I turned round and felt my heart sink as I saw who he was accompanied by. _Him. _I glared at Albus, and then noticed Scorpious and Lorcan had reached us. Manon was still reading the Quibbler in the corner, not really noticing what was going on. I smiled at Lorcan and Scorpious, the latter now in deep conversation with Rose. Just looking at them you could tell they would end up together.

I turned back to Albus, ready to glare at him again, only to not be able to see him. It turned out a carriage had arrived. There was enough space for all of us, much to my disgust at being anywhere near the moron. I gently tapped Manon on the back and gestured to the carriage and she got in, following Rose and Scorpious, her small sketchpad tucked into her Ravenclaw robes. Lorcan followed, then Albus gestured for me to get on, and I gave him a fake smile and climbed on. He rolled his eyes and muttered something about 'selfish'. I made sure to kick my leg backwards, causing mud to fly at his face. He dodged swiftly, to my displeasure, and smirked back at me. I turned around to see Rose giggling to herself. I shot her a glare and sat down at the back.

About a minute in, I decided I could no longer stand the silence, Scorpious and Rose smiling at each other, next to Scorp was Lorcan, and then Albus all on one side, opposite being the girls. Manon in the corner drawing lightly on her small sketchpad, Roxy flicking through the Prophet, her face contorted with humour and disgust, and then Rose, staring back at Scorpious. I just sat there examining my nails, humming 'Hey there Delilah', one of my favourite muggle songs.

"So, Roxy, how's Fred" I said, startling Roxy slightly at my abrupt conversation starter.

"Er, good, I think. OMG! I didn't tell you guys! I think our dearest player Fred has got his eye on someone!" Roxy said, gasping in excitement.

Rose broke away from Scorpious' gaze, and gasped as well. "Omg tell me EVERYTHING!"

Scorpious sighed, Lorcan smirked, and Manon still showed little interest. I stared at Albus for a moment, only to notice he was staring back at me. I blushed slightly and turned away. I BLUSHED. Oh hell I was never going to live this down. He smirked at me, running a hand through his annoying hair. He was so annoying. Luckily, we had arrived at Hogwarts, and I turned my mind to that instead.


	5. A Welcoming Feast

ALBUS POV

The journey was highly uneventful, thanks to the lack of 'Heather contributions' as I now call them. As we arrived in the great hall for the feast, I waved to Lorcan, Rose and Manon who headed off to the Ravenclaw table. I hesitated before waving at Roxanne and Heather. Roxy waved back with a smile, Heather just rolled her eyes. Okay then.

My stomach grumbled in anticipation because I knew the amazing food was about to be served, but the sorting was still happening.

"Ryland, Flora" The poor child looked terrified, and it was to my utmost surprise as she was sorted into Slytherin.

When finally 'Zavou, Elliot' had been sorted into Hufflepuff, and my stomach was making noises loud enough to wake Fluffy, Professor McGonagall stood up and began to speak.

"Welcome back, boys and girls! I have an important announcement to make, but I can see you are all hungry, so we shall commence with the food!" I thanked Godric that she had decided this. I almost fainted in delight (and the fact I was starving) at the sight of the food that appeared on the table. I grabbed 4 chicken drumsticks, tucking in without hesitation. I was halfway through my second, when I heard a soft chuckling. I raised my head to see Scorpious, opposite me, trying desperately to hold back a snort of laughter.

"Al, it looks like you haven't been fed in months" He smirked, as he picked at his chicken. I rolled my eyes and continued with my food. It _felt_ like I hadn't eaten in months.

After I finished, which was surprisingly quick, McGonagall stood up again, and started her speech.

"As I stated before the feast started, I had an announcement to make. And that is that Hogwarts shall be hosting the Yule Ball!" A murmur went through the crowd, some shocked, and others like Rose and Roxy, weren't fazed, completely expecting it.

"However, we shall not be hosting the Triwizard Tournament. This is due to complaints and the fact it is all in all too dangerous, but it is the 25th anniversary of Cedric Diggory's death, so we will be hosting the ball, and Durmstrang and Beauxbatons will be attending. I trust you to make them feel welcome. That is all; please continue to your Dorms!"

I saw over the top of Scorpious' head, Lysander hugging Lily. I glared at them, how careless was she? I then noticed Scorpious was in a bit of a trance, eyeing Rose over at the Ravenclaw table. I saw Manon whisper something in her ear, and made her turn a bright shade of red and turn around. I then saw Manon smile at Lorcan, who seemed to do a double take. Was I missing something?

I then glanced at Heather, who was sitting at the Gryffindor table with Roxy, and she just so happened to look up as well. She mouthed 'what?' at me and I just turned back to Scorpious, and gestured for us to go.

HEATHER POV

Yule Ball? Shocker. Not like Rose and Roxy were talking about that for the whole journey! No!

I felt someone's stare on me, and I glanced up, onely to make eye contact with the one and only Albus Potter. I mouthed 'What?' at him. He just shook his head and returned to his conversation with Scorpious, and then they got up and left. I felt something in my chest, like a pang of regret or guilt or some stupid emotion. I must have imagined it.

I turned to Roxy, who was glaring at her brother, who had walked over to the Slytherin table and was in the process of asking a pretty girl who I remembered from potions. Brittany? She nodded and they left the hall as well. I turned to Roxy who was burning in anger.

"How dare he get a date before ME?!" I chuckled at her, so easily angry.

"We should go check out our dorms, Rox." I said, in a soft voice, trying to calm her down. She nodded, still fuming and got up and stomped off. So much for waiting, I thought. I turned around to see Manon and Rose were leaving as well, so I waited for them.

"Hey, guys. So has Scorpious asked you in that brief 5 minutes?" I laughed, but Rose just looked distraught.

"Don't rub it in." She muttered. Wow.

"Okay, see you tomorrow, Heather." Manon smiled, turning to go up the Ravenclaw tower. I began to wish I was going with them, not back to an angry Roxanne.

I sighed and reached the fat lady, and muttered 'Fizzing Whizbees' and climbing into the common room. There I felt my mood lift, as I smelt the familiar smell of home and books. I saw Dominique sitting by the fire, alongside Lewis Davies, and guessed I should leave them alone. It was already pretty late, so I climbed the girls stairs, and into the dorm room.

Roxanne seemed to have calmed down considerably. Mia Finnegan and Lana Thomas were reading the latest copy of Witch Weekly. I opened my case to find my pyjamas; I was the only one who hadn't changed. I traipsed to the bathroom, changed, attempted to tame my hair into braids, and when I was satisfied I came out, only to see Roxy and Mia asleep, and Lana feeding her owl at the window.

"Hey Lana, good summer?" I said politely.

"Yes, it was alright. We went to India to visit my grandparents" Lana was the daughter of Dean Thomas and Pavarti Patil, giving her a beautiful coloured skin, and amazing long black hair. Was I jealous? Yes.

I got into bed and then turned on my side, and glanced at the picture I had put on my bedside. It was the one of all of us, taken last Christmas. Me, Manon, Lorcan, Lysander, Lily, Albus, James, Dom, Toire, Louis, Teddy, Roxy, Fred, Rose, Hugo, Lucy, Molly and Scorpious. It was a really nice picture, all smiling and laughing, I think it was after a big game of Quidditch at Fleur and Bill's house in France. As I looked closer I noticed Albus was staring right at me, smiling. I had never noticed that before. My tired eyes must've been tricking me, so I rolled over and fell asleep.


	6. A strange Potion

HEATHER POV

I awoke to the sound of Roxy humming, and I was in an oddly high mood. I was not sure what it was caused by, but I decided to enjoy it.

"Morning, Roxy!" I beamed. She whipped round, mid teeth-brushing, her skirt askew. She had a look of shock on her face.

"Are you ill, Heather?! You're in an awfully good mood!" she faked shock.

I smirked at her and rolled my eyes, and hopped out of bed. I was quick to change into my uniform, and helping Roxy with her unfortunate inability to tie a tie. I brushed my hair so it fell straight down to my shoulders; Rose was trying to convince me to grow it out. I turned to Roxy, who nodded with satisfaction at my appearance, and I nodded back, we then turned and began to walk down the stairs together, Roxy going on about how annoyed she was at her brothers success at getting a date before her. It was really amazing how much this was affecting her.

Fred was in the year above, and quite a player. However the other day we caught him in the hall asking Brittany Davy to the Yule ball. As far as I knew she was nice, and pretty, but I had never met her in person. Fred however did seem quite taken with her.

As we entered the great hall for breakfast, my stomach grumbling, I noticed the time tables for the day were being given out. I had forgotten. I sighed and noticed Rose, Manon and Lorcan were all sat at the Ravenclaw table, and I nudged Roxy, who was glaring at Fred.

"Roxy, let's go sit on Ravenclaw table?"

"Yep, don't want to even be in close proximity with Fred." She tossed her braids behind her shoulder and stalked off. I dragged my feet after her and sat down opposite Roxy and Manon, next to Rose.

I helped myself to two pieces of toast and some bacon. I noticed Manon examining her time table, and was wondering where mine was.

As I was thinking this, Flitwick walked over and handed me my time table, making me groan as I saw I had potions first.

"Potions first? The dungeons first thing in the morning?" I moaned, and lay my head on the table, pushing my food aside. I wasn't aware Albus and Scorpious were there until I lifted my head to see Albus sitting opposite me, and Scorp had seated himself next to Rose. How peculiar…

I sighed deeply when I glanced at Albus' watch, and saw it was time for class. I got up, leaving my forgotten food for Rose.

"Rox, we should go" I said, poking her side. She winced and I laughed. She got up and we walked out, after agreeing to meet the others later, who were still waiting for Lorcan to finish eating. I chuckled at his large appetite, and Roxy dragged me towards the dungeons.

We were lucky enough to grab seats at the back, we were early. Albus' watch must've been fast. Stupid Albus. Stupid dungeons. I sat down next to Roxy, who was next to Josh Abbot, a Hufflepuff who I knew Roxy found highly 'intriguing'. I rested my head on my hand, tapping on the table, waiting for Slughorn to arrive.

When he came in, 10 minutes late I might add, I was nearly asleep again. Roxy nudged me, snapping out of her conversation with Josh. I shot up and said 'HERE' very loudly. It received a few giggles from my classmates. I shot them glares and sat up straight, flicking my hair behind my shoulder. Roxy was suppressing a giggle, so I elbowed her hard in the ribs. Whatever, she deserved it.

"Today, class, we shall be brewing the famous love potion, Amortentia."

I rolled my eyes at the girls obvious excitement.

"Amortentia is the most powerful Love potion in existence, causing the drinker to have a powerful infatuation or obsession with said person. Today we shall be attempting to brew our own!" Slughorn finished, clapping his hands together. I rolled my eyes again.

"Now if you could all turn to page 86, where you shall find the ingredients, and commence when you are ready!"

I flipped to the page and skimmed over the page, this was going to be a breeze. Roxy on the other hand, looked on the verge of tears as her eyes flicked over the instructions. Potions was never her good subject.

I carefully measured out the powdered moonstone and added it to the already frothy consistency in my cauldron. As I was weighing the frozen ashwinder eggs, I glanced cautiously at Roxy, who was on the edge of yanking her braids out. Her cauldron and work station looked like a bombsite. I laughed silently at her, covering my mouth. I glanced back at my completed amortentia, satisfied with the pearly consistency and the swirls of steam emitting from the cauldron. I mentally thanked Roxy's dad, George, for helping me over Christmas with my potions homework.

"Right, class, step away from your cauldrons, time is up!" Slughorn shouted across the room. Roxy gave a sigh of defeat and smoothed down her frizzed braids. I smirked at her, and risked a glance at her potion. I was surprised, because it looked similar to mine, but suddenly a defrosted ashwinder egg shot out and burst into flames, then the ashes disintegrated and fell back into the cauldron. I felt some sympathy for my best friend, who had her head buried in her hands. Aw.

"Right, another fact about Amortentia, if you weren't aware, is that when you smell it, it gives off a different smell to each individual. You smell whatever you love, so can everyone return to their cauldrons and smell their potion, and record in your books whatever you smell, to see if you have done it correctly."

I shrugged and walked back towards my work station and voluntarily sniffed the swirls of smoke that where dancing above the potion. I made a mental note of what I smelt. There was definitely a strong smell of old books, and I loved that smell it made sense. I also caught a whiff of Vanilla ice cream. Mmm. Then, I suddenly caught a strong smell of something I wasn't familiar with at all. I tried smelling it again, and again, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

I looked over at Roxy, who was attempting to get anywhere near her potion.

"Rox, just smell mine" I said, sparing her some sympathy.

She gave me a bright smile and put her face above my cauldron.

"Ohh. Strawberries, cinnamon, the Quidditch changing rooms, and- and"- she cut off, snapped her head up and blushed bright red. She then glanced at Josh Abbott and I pieced together the puzzle in my head.

"Oh god, Roxy, don't tell me"- "Shut up." She said, still a furious shade of crimson.

I burst into an uncontrollable laughter. She was so naïve. I held on to the desk to stop myself from falling over.

"Miss McAffrey! Stop this foolish behaviour!" Slughorn snapped, and I attempted to compose myself, failing. I held my mouth together, trying not to laugh. Roxy fired me a signature glare, which shut me up. Anything but an angry Roxy.

As the lesson was over, we trudged out of potions; I was ready for ancient runes, which was with Manon, Lorcan and Albus, but we just happened to bump into the others on the way down. Rose and Scorpious looked over the moon, so I took this as a good sign.

"What on earth happened?!" Roxy said, bemused. Rose and Scorp, blushed, so Manon took over, stuttering with excitement.

"He asked her to the ball! S-she said y-y-yes!" Manon sputtered, causing Lorcan to chuckle.

I gaped at them, but then snapped my mouth shut, because I completely expected it. Roxy on the other hand had forgotten, and shrieked loudly, causing some first years who were walking past to cover their ears. Rose glared at her, giving her the 'shut up' face. Lorcan and Albus chuckled as Scorpious put his head in his hands.

"Guys, we're going to be late for ancient runes" Albus said, glancing at Manon, me and Lorcan. I shrugged and followed Manon who had started leaving, and Lorcan shoved his hands in his pockets, walking next to Albus further behind us.

"So how was Charms?" I said, making conversation.

"Fine, I guess. Albus mastered _Depulso_ first, obviously" she muttered. Charms was her favourite subject, and she didn't like being beaten.

"Well, that much was expected." I muttered. Manon smirked at me.

"Hey, Ladies" Lorcan said, him and Albus having caught up with us on our way to the classroom. Albus stood on my left, Lorcan on the end next to Manon. I would normally squirm at having Albus at this close proximity, and I was about to say this, but as I looked up at him, he smiled at me, his smile reaching his emerald eyes, a shade lighter than Manon's. I suddenly found myself smiling back.

Oh god, what was happening to me?


	7. Happy Birthday, Manon

ALBUS POV

It was almost time for breakfast, and Scorpious was not coming out of the bathroom.

"Scorp! What the hell are you doing that is taking 30 minutes?!" I yelled, banging on the door. "You can't take this long preening!"

At this remark, Scorpious emerged from the bathroom, looking much the same as when he went in, but I just shrugged it off and we walked down to breakfast. It was Saturday, which meant first trip to Hogsmeade, and it also meant Manons Birthday, and a surprise/Halloween party, with Gryffindor.

As we entered the great hall, I noticed it was only Rose sitting at the Ravenclaw table, and there was no Manon or Lorcan. Or any sight of Heather or Roxy for that matter. We plonked ourselves down next opposite Rose, who was smiling at Scorpious and completely oblivious to my presence. Geez.

Rose was wearing a flowery dress, with leggings and boots. Scorpious must have found this adorable, because he would not stop staring at her. Get a room, I thought. I had quickly put on a blue jumper and jeans, Scorpious having spent considerably longer on his appearance.

"Where is the birthday girl?" I wondered, after about 5 minutes.

"She said something about the common room, she'll be here soon" Rose mumbled, through a mouthful of toast.

About half a minute after I was informed this, Roxy, Heather and Manon walked in.

"Hey, Birthday girl" I smiled at Manon. She leaned in and gave me a brief hug, thanking me in the process. She sat down next to me, Heather and Roxy sitting opposite. That was when I noticed how different they all were.

Roxy was wearing an old Quidditch jumper and a black skirt thing, Manon was wearing an oversized jumper and leggings, a black beanie and black combat boots. Heather was wearing a t shirt, I think with the same band as Lorcan had worn once, and jeans, with these odd converses which looked like she had doodled on them.

We were halfway through breakfast, discussing our Hogsmeade trip and other odd topics, when Lorcan ran in, seemingly out of breath. Heather raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. Happy birthday, Manon" He smiled widely at her. She smiled back, blushing slightly, and passed him some coffee. I could have sworn Lorcan blushed. What was the world coming to?

I glanced back at Heather and Roxy, who were both looking at Scorpious and Rose in admiration. Heather suddenly whipped her head round. I forgot she had this weird thing where she can sense people looking at her. Weird, I tell you, and awkward. I scratched my head, and looked away, she just laughed at me.

When Rose announced it was time to go, we got up and walked out of the hall as a group. I felt around in my pockets for my form which said I could go to Hogsmeade, suddenly feeling faint as I couldn't feel it.

I felt something tap on my shoulder, and I turned around, still in a state of panic, to see Heather with her arm outstretched, holding my Hogsmeade form, an eyebrow raised in amusement. I muttered 'thanks' and she looked at me.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" She smirked.

"THANK YOU HEATHER" I glared at her. I knew we were gradually getting over our 'hatred' for each other, after she beat me in that ancient runes mock paper. I did tell her it was only a mock paper, but she would have none of it. I liked being friends with her, but there were still times she relit that little flame of frustration in the pit of my stomach. But in a way I liked it, it kept me on my toes.

She skipped off gleefully, kicking up the crispy orange leaves on her way over to the others. I shook my head in wonder, and followed her.

We reached Hogsmeade, our first stop being Honeydukes. Obviously. I grabbed a handful of peppermint creams, my favourite, and a packet of chocolate frogs. I paid quickly, then joined the others outside, Lorcan nabbing one of my peppermint creams. I hungrily tore open my chocolate frog, to see the card I got. What a surprise when I turned it over and saw my dad. That would come to a total of 37 cards I had with my dad on. i pocketed my sweets and we walked across to The Three Broomsticks.

It was nice and warm inside the tavern, and we bagged a booth at the back, closest to the fire.

Roxy and Rose were soon in deep conversation about the Yule Ball, again. Scorpious, Heather and Manon began a heated argument about the top Quidditch team. I rolled my eyes at Heathers clear enthusiasm in this topic.

I turned to Lorcan who was fiddling with his butterbeer, and then I remembered the request Roxy had asked me to complete.

"Hey, Lorcan. Do you think you could distract Manon for the next half hour? I think the girls want to get their present?" I asked, in a low voice.

He seemed to be contemplating this for a moment, and the agreed. I watched as he hesitantly asked Manon is she would like to go for a walk with him, and she nodded, I think she preferred being outside anyway. I knew Lorcan had already got her something, so he didn't need to come with us anyway.

When we were sure they were gone, we got up and left, Scorpious insisting to pay for our drinks, which we all let him.

Scorpious and I had decided to get Manon something together, because I was broke. We separated from Heather, Rose and Roxy and went back into Honeydukes. We knew that her favourites were exploding bon bons and droobles bubble-gum, so we filled up an especially large bag with the two, Scorpious including the odd fizzing whizbee, which was ruining the perfect pink and blue colour scheme.

"Do you know what Lorcan got her?" Scorpious mused, as we walked out of the shop, chewing on a piece of bubble-gum.

"No, he isn't telling anyone because he thinks we will tell her" I said, smirking. I knew he had spent a while on it however; he was always late to dinner.

Scorpious too smirked, and we walked into Weasley Wizard Wheezes, My uncle's shop. I waved at George who was peeking out from behind the till. We wandered round endless rows of jokes, and we waited patiently for the girls to finish their shopping. When finally they had paid, we walked out, bumping into Teddy and Victoire on the way.

"So what did you get her?" I asked them

"I got her a pygmy puff, I know how much she wanted one" Heather said, revealing an adorable little pink ball of fluff. This certainly brought out the feminine side of Scorpious. He was cooing over it for about 3 whole minutes.

"I got her some Patented Daydream charms" said Rose, swinging her back of goodies around her legs.

"I got her some Wakefields Off The Record Glow In The Dark Bubblegum" Roxy smiled, and I envied Manon for the amazing presents she was going to get.

At this moment, Lorcan and Manon came round the corner, and this caused us to whip our bags behind our backs and smile at them. They both looked breathless, and cold, but more breathless.

HEATHER POV

I noticed how flushed Lorcan and Manon looked as they returned, and smirked knowingly at Roxy. We didn't actually know if they liked each other, but we had decided that they should.

As we walked up to the castle, I noticed Albus was catching up with me. I felt an odd swoop in my stomach, and had to stop walking momentarily. Was I ill? I brushed it off as nothing, and turned to speak to Albus.

"Hey, Al" I think we had gotten over our beginning of term 'tiff' and we had settled with just the odd teasing. That didn't mean I _liked_ him, though.

"Hey Heather, how's it going?" He said, green eyes glowing against the black hair that fell in front of his eyes. I was about to answer when I felt my foot catch on a bit of ice.

Just as i braced myself for the fall, I felt a strong pair of arms stop me, picking me back up with ease. I turned around to see Albus chuckling to himself, so I hit him hard on the arm, and he faked a gasp. Just when I was about to thank him. Pfft.

When we reached school, it was time to give Manon her presents, so we all gathered in the Ravenclaw common room and sat in a circle. I hoped she liked her Pygmy Puff!

It was an hour later, and Manon loved all her presents, and would not put Lucian, the name she had given the Pygmy Puff, down. But I think Lorcan's gift topped them all.

Anyway, we were now starting to get ready for the Halloween party, and all of us girls were in Rose and Manon's dorm room, but the party itself was in the Gryffindor common room, because it was originally just for Gryffindors, but other people were coming anyway.

We had all researched muggle ideas for costumes, and I had decided on the Mad Hatter from one of my favourite muggle books, Alice in Wonderland. Manon had gone for a Batman dress thing, which was quite skin tight… Rose was a very slutty peter pan, but she thought that Scorpious would like it, and he no doubt would, but so would another 50 boys at the party. Roxy was in a Cat Woman costume, which took her about 20 minutes to get into, and not much was left to imagination.

We combined as a joint force to tame Roxy's wild curls into a presentable bun, which took us another 20 minutes.

"No,no, no, Heather! I said bun not braid!" Rose yelled. "Well you could have said!" I yelled back. "Guys SHUT UP!" Manon yelled over us. The attempt to do Roxy's hair was draining us. When it was complete, we decided it was worth putting our friendship on the line.

Manon started a complex braid around her head, curling the rest of it, so it was like a braided headband. While in Hogsmeade, Manon and I had gone to Humble's Hairdressers, and Manon had had the ends of her golden hair dip dyed a deep aqua, permanently. I had gone for a pink colour for the ends, but it was only semi-permanent. My parents would be mad if I came home with hair like that. I left my blonde/pink hair down in waves, And rose had hers pin straight with her little peter pan hat on.

Next it was makeup. I was awful at this part, so I asked Manon for help. She worked away on my face for 10 minutes flat, and then stepped back and admired her work.

I gasped at my new face. I looked _amazing_. My grey/green/blue eyes were lined with a dark black with a smoky finish, and my skin was flawless. Manon smirked at my reaction and began to work on her face. I finished the touch with my converse and knee high socks. Rose grabbed her bow and arrow, and straightened out her dress and glanced up at me.

"OH. MY. GOD. Heather you look _Hot_!" I rolled my eyes. So did she to be honest, if a bit on the slutty side. Roxy gave her nod of appreciation, her face now concealed by a black mask.

"We should go, I think the boys are waiting downstairs" Manon said, her face complete with black cat liner.

We nodded and followed her downstairs, and I suddenly felt nervous. What if I looked to over the top? But I just shrugged to myself, and walked into the common room.

ALBUS POV

We had been waiting for a good five minutes, and finally I heard footsteps on the stairs. I turned away from Lorcan, who was dressed as Robin? I think it was some superhero. Scorpious was dressed as Captain Hook, from the muggle book Peter Pan. I had not really put much effort in, I was some kind of muggle idea of a vampire.

When the footsteps got closer, I turned around. My mouth dropped open. So did Scorpious'. So did Lorcan's. I momentarily forgot how breath. They really had put in effort. But my attention shot straight to Heather. Was it even Heather? She looked stunning, and my stomach did a cartwheel. Her blonde hair was wavy and the ends were pink, her outfit flattered her figure and her eyes popped due to the eye makeup.

"Kindly collect your jaw from the floor, Albus, someone might step on it" Heather laughed, a tinkly sound. I snapped out of my trance and quickly shut my mouth. She was still laughing.

We followed the others out of the Ravenclaw common room, and into the hallway. We ran quickly to the Gryffindor Room, and Heather whispered the password, and we stepped in.

Instantly the sharp smell of Firewhiskey and some other concoctions flew up my nostrils. I coughed and Lorcan laughed at me.

Loud music was pounding out of the speakers Jamie Wood had provided, who was also the Dj. It was some muggle band which Lorcan, Heather or Manon probably knew. I accepted a drink from an older year student, walking around with a tray of red cups. I gulped it down, burning my throat. I suddenly felt more alive, and made my way to the middle, where Scorpious and Rose were. We danced for a good 10 minutes, and I began to feel tired. I dodged through couples and friends, including an intoxicated Fred and Teddy. I sat down on one of the sofas, which had been pushed to the side.

"Having fun?" A voice said. Heather.

"Yeh, you don't look over the moon though?" I asked, she just shrugged.

"Not really my scene" She shouted over the music.

I glanced onto the makeshift dance floor and saw Roxy, Rose and Scorp still going.

I turned my head back to Heather, who was staring out onto the Quidditch pitch. I knew she was a Chaser for the team, I had played her before. I was Seeker on the Slytherin team.

"So, have you got a date to the ball yet?" I asked making conversation.

She looked at me suspiciously. "No, why?"

"No reason, just wondering. Neither have I. Don't really see the point"

"Neither, I couldn't care less If nobody asked me." She shrugged. A wild idea shot through my head. I wasn't sure whether it was due to the alcohol, but I thought, why not?

"Hey, how about we go together?" I shouted.

"What?" She yelled back.

"I said, shall we got to the ball together?" I shouted again, it was the damn music.

"I can't hear you, Al!" She yelled.

"I said"- suddenly the music cut out- "DO YOU WANT TO GO TO THE BALL WITH ME?"

Everybody froze, apart from Jamie Wood, trying to repair his disk. Oh my god, everyone had just heard me ask my 'enemy' Heather McAffrey, to go to the ball with me.

"-AS FRIENDS" I made sure to add, and everyone sighed and went back to their conversations, and the music started up again.

I remembered Heather hadn't answered me yet, and when I turned back to her, she still had her mouth open in shock.

"Kindly collect your jaw from the floor, Heather, someone might step on it" I smirked. "So how about it?"

"How about what?" She asked.

"Please don't make me say it again, you know what. As friends?"

She shrugged. "Why not? Sure, Al, I will go to the ball with you" I felt that swoop in my stomach as she smiled at me, returning to daydreaming afterwards.

I got up dizzily. I had just asked my 'worst enemy' to the Yule Ball.


	8. An accident, And a dare

HEATHER POV

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that I wasn't even in my bed. It looked suspiciously like Roxy's. The second thing I noticed was that I was still in my Halloween costume. The final thing I noticed was that when I opened my eyes, there was a seriously bright light.

Eugh, It was the aftermath of Firewhiskey.

"Morning!" Roxy chirped, walking out of the bathroom in a towel.

"Remind me why on _earth _I am in your bed?" I asked.

"Well, when I came up to bed around 1, you were snoring on my bed, so I took yours." She stated, matter-of-factly. i just rolled over and was about to go back to sleep, because it was Sunday, and the day of rest or whatever, when I remembered something that made my eyes fly open.

"QUIDDITCH!" I yelled, making Roxy jump.

"Yes, it is the Quidditch match against Slytherin today, genius. We have half an hour" Roxy said, pulling on her Quidditch jumper.

"HALF AN HOUR?!" I gaped. Well the Slytherins liked to be prompt. Slytherin. Albus. Ball. Oh god, it was all coming back to me now. I groaned, and turned over again, miscalculating how close I was to the edge, resulting in me falling off the bed.

Roxy laughed, while I shot her a glare, and got up. I lazily brushed my hair into a high ponytail, and pulled on my Quidditch clothes.

"Rox, I'm not ready for this" I groaned, my head pounding.

"You'll be fine, just don't get distracted by Albus, and his _dashing_ good looks" She smirked.

"ROXY! YOU"- I began to chase her down the stairs to the common room.

After I was satisfied with nearly strangling her, and her begging for mercy, we headed to breakfast with about 20 minutes to spare before we would be out on the pitch.

"Morning, Fred" Roxy said, sitting next to her brother who was also in Quidditch gear, him being a Gryffindor beater. They had got over their argument after Roxy found out that in actual fact he didn't have a date yet because he had got turned down, much to Roxy's pleasure.

"Morning" He muttered. Roxy shrugged off his moody behaviour, and as his friends Teddy and Molly walked over, we got up and walked off to sit with the Ravenclaws.

"Hey, Lorcan, Manon, Rose" I greeted them in turn. I decided to be extra nice to Rose, because now I wasn't actually sure whether or not she would be supporting Gryffindor or Slytherin today, because she was currently waving at Scorpious over at the Slytherin table.

I smiled at her and she smiled back, so I went for it.

"Hey, Rosie, who are you supporting today?" I said, in a super sweet voice.

"Gryffindor, obviously" She said, so she had her priorities in the right order then. Sisters before misters.

I thoughtfully munched on my toast, and watched Manon and Lorcan make conversation about some random topic. What even was going on with them? None of us knew.

It was 5 minutes till the match, and Roxy and I were walking towards the changing rooms, anxiously.

Jamie Wood, Quidditch captain and Dj extraordinaire, was in the middle of the team talk when we walked in.

"McAffrey, Weasley. You're both late" Oh so he was in his 'game on' mood.

"Won't happen again, Wood." Roxy mumbled, I just nodded, following Roxy who went to sit next to Albus' brother James.

"Anyway, Team. This is our year, I can feel it. So we should go out there and kick those snake's butts!" We all cheered; my cheering being considerably louder, because technically he had just referred to Al as a snake.

ALBUS POV

It was bloody freezing outside, as we waited for the Gryffindor team to emerge. I had had to ask Scorpious to recount last night's events in full detail, with my head in my hands the whole time. But I couldn't think about that right now. It was game time.

As the stands started filling up, I spied my friends waving so I waved back. Then I saw the Gryffindor team walk out of the Changing rooms. My stomach did about 5 consecutive cartwheels as I saw Heather grinning at Roxy, who were probably discussing tactics. Her hair swished around in a ponytail, and I got this weird urge to go and talk to her. No, no, no. Must not be distracted, it is the semi-finals for the cup.

The captains shook hands, and we were off. After the fight between Scorpious and I over who should play seeker, we had agreed that I would, and plus he was a better chaser anyway. I sored into the air, only to nearly crash into Heather, who flew past me, and I think she said 'Watch out, idiot'.

So much for hoping to actually get along for the ball. Oh well, no going back.

I was searching desperately for the snitch, and then I heard the commentator, Ashley Jordan, suddenly exclaim,

"He's seen it! Teddy Lupin has seen the snitch!"

I darted in the direction of the snitch, or in the direction of Teddy, who was going at Rocket speed towards the end of the pitch.

Suddenly, I heard a loud shriek. Heather.

I spun around, forgetting about the snitch, Teddy having also stopped. What I saw next made my heart beat about 3000 times faster.

One of our beaters, Robin Flint, had purposely flew straight into her as she reached for the Quaffle, hitting her broom with all his might. What the hell?!

Roxy's face was frozen in horror, along with James' and the rest of the Gryffindor team, and mine.

I snapped out of the trance quicker than everyone else, and at the sight of Heather beginning to plummet toward the ground at a tremendous speed, I struggled against the wind and flew towards her.

I made it just in time, and caught her just before she reached the ground. I received a round of applause, but then my breath caught in my throat, as I noticed the large wound on Heather's shoulder, presumably from the impact of Flint's broom. There was blood seeping through her jumper, and my heart was hammering against my chest.

I was about to drop to the ground in despair, when I turned and saw Madame Hooch, and she hurriedly told me to take Heather to the Hospital Wing. I nodded and began to walk quickly.

I began to panic as she still wasn't stirring when I reached Madame Pomfrey, who told me to lay her on one of the beds, which I obliged. Pomfrey told me I could stay, but only me, gesturing to Roxy, Rose, Scorpious, Manon and Lorcan, who I hadn't noticed had tagged along.

I walked over to the door where they all were, Rose's face was as white as a sheet, and I noticed Scorp was holding her hand.

"Guys, Pomfrey wants you to leave" I said, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly.

"What about you?" Lorcan said.

"She said I can stay"

"Do you even want to stay? I thought you to didn't even like each other" Manon said.

"Of course I like her! Well not like that, but, erm, yeh, er, I'll stay, don't worry" I muttered.

They waved as they walked off, and I went and sat on the chair next to Heather, secretly hoping she would wake up soon.

HEATHER POV

I was in a very peaceful sleep, when I heard a clink that woke me up. As my eyelids fluttered open, I saw Madame Pomfrey collecting a vial she just dropped.

"Sorry dear, I say you had quite a fall! How is that arm feeling?" She whispered.

"A lot better, thank you." I said "Why are you whispering? I'm awake"

She smiled and gestured to my right. I turned my head, and noticed a sleeping Albus, slumped on the chair, his black hair falling over his eyes. I smiled, and shook my head slightly.

At my stare, he began to stir.

"Heather, you're awake" He pointed out, stretching his arms.

"Well done, genius" I smiled lazily. He grinned back.

"Are you going to thank your knight in shining armour?" He gestured to himself.

"Funny, I thought knights were supposed to be awfully handsome?" I teased.

He faked a pained expression, so muttered a 'Thank you' and gave him a small smile, just as Pomfrey walked over.

"Well, Miss McAffrey, you have made a rapid recovery, thanks to the quick rescue of Mr Potter, you may go when you are ready" She said, tottering off.

I sat up, re doing my ponytail, and stood up slowly, my head spinning. Albus steadied me, holding my wrist, which he immediately let go of when he saw me staring at it. He had left an odd tingly sensation where he had touched me.

We walked back to the Ravenclaw common room, where no one really hangs out apart from out gang, because they're all at the library or something. Albus said he had agreed to meet them there, that they were waiting for me. It turned out it was only 2 o'clock.

When we walked in, after Albus' hilarious attempt to open the door by answering the riddle, which I finally decided to step in and help him with, Rose ran up to me and hugged me tightly making me wince when she touched my shoulder.

"Sorry! Forgot!" She apologised, and I shrugged, instantly regretting it as another sharp pain shot through my arm.

"Its fine, so, what are we going to do for the rest of the day?" I wondered, we still had half of the day.

"Oh, I know!" Manon exclaimed "Let's play truth or dare!"

I rolled my eyes, that was such a Manon thing to say, but everyone had already agreed, so I reluctantly decided to join in. We all were sat in a circle on the floor, in a boy girl order, which Roxy said was necessary.

"Okay, the rules." Manon began, "If you pick truth, you have to answer truthfully or you will be suspended upside down in the air until you tell the truth, and you must complete your dare or else you will be out of the game" She finished, smiling.

Oh God.

We were about 10 minutes in, previous events including Manon putting lipstick on Lorcan, who had to try not to laugh, and Scorpious being dangled upside down for lying about not having had his first kiss. Aww.

"Okay, Rose. Truth or Dare?" Roxy challenged.

"Truth" She risked. Bad choice, I thought, Roxy comes out with the hardest ones.

"Do you own a thong?" Roxy smirked, Manons eyes did a typical roll, and Scorpious' mouth fell open.

Rose blushed a deep crimson. "No! Of course not"

Suddenly she flew upside down in the air, by an invisible force.

"Ok, fine, but only because Dominique gave it to me!" She surrendered. Scorpious' face suddenly looked very odd; god knows what _he_ was imagining. Rose flushed a bright pink, returning to her cross legged position next to Scorpious, who was still gaping at her.

Then it was Albus' turn. "Truth or Dare, Al?" Lorcan said, his lips still slightly pink, much to his horror.

"Dare" Albus muttered, running a hand through his hair.

The cauldron we had filled with dares and placed in the middle of the circle glowed green and a crumpled bit of paper shot out in green flames, landing in Lorcan's hands.

"Your dare, is to rub noses with the player on your left"

Oh crap.

ALBUS POV

"…Is to rub noses with the player on your left" Lorcan finished.

I glanced to my left, to meet Heathers amused gaze. She looked confident, but I could tell she was nervous on the inside.

Slowly, I leaned in, ignoring Roxy's gasp that I was fulfilling this dare, rather than backing out. As I got closer to Heather, I caught a smell of her Vanilla body spray, and it made me want to go closer, which I had to anyway.

I cautiously glanced at her, she nodded, and I quickly touched noses with her, our lips dangerously close to each other. I was about to back away, when I made the mistake of looking her in the eyes. Her weird blue/grey/green eyes were incredibly wise. I breathed in slowly, and I could feel her breath on my face.

During this odd trance, I began to forget about our friends, and it only felt like it was me and her in the room. A song Lorcan had once made me listen to began running through my head.

'_It would be safer to hate her, than to love her and to lose her, it'd be safer to hate her…' _

I suddenly remembered that we were barely friends anyway, so I snapped out of my trance, Lorcan beginning to cough, uncomfortably. Heather coughed as well, trying to clear the awkwardness.

Out of nowhere Rose and Roxy just began laughing hysterically.

"Oh-my-god!" Roxy gasped.

"You- nearly- kissed- her!" Rose shrieked, trying to breathe and laugh at the same time.

"No I didn't, shut up" I moaned, Heather beginning to giggle as well. Seriously?

"Anyway… Scorpious, Truth or Dare?" Manon said.


	9. I Dont Hate You

ALBUS POV

I woke up unnaturally early, when I glanced at my watch it read 5:30am. I sighed, running a hand through my bed hair, which was much the same as my everyday hair. I sat up, giving up hope of ever going back to sleep, glancing at the snoring form of Scorpious in the bed that was next to mine. My other friends in my dorm, Flynn Zabini and Evan Roberts were also sound asleep. I threw off my covers and opened the second draw on the table next to my four poster bed.

I came across the scrapbook Rose and Roxy gave me for my birthday last year, and having nothing else to do, I pulled it out and began to flick through it.

The first page had 'the guys' written in big green letters, and included a picture of Scorpious and I, fresh off the Quidditch pitch, me waving lazily at the camera and Scorpious doing his weird half smile. Next to it was a picture of Lorcan and I, taken in the holiday, and we were covered in snow, Lorcan in the process of picking snow out of his hair. I smiled at the memory; it was the huge snowball fight last year. The final picture was all three of us, Roxy photo bombing in the background.

I flicked over the page, and in pink sparkly letters was the words 'the girls'. The first picture was of Roxy and me, hugging, as she ruffled my hair. I couldn't remember that day, but it must have been a birthday or something. The second picture was an older one of me and Rose, smiling at the camera, cross legged on the floor, Christmas wrapping paper strewn around us. The third picture on the page was one of me and Manon, laughing at something, and her hair flying around her face. It was a very cute picture.

The final picture was of me and Heather, mid argument, but as the picture moved, I could see we were both trying to hold in laughter, and that it was something funny. By the end of the picture, we were almost in tears with laughter. I smiled, feeling an odd warm sensation in my stomach, and stared at the picture as it looped, for about 5 minutes.

I turned to the final page, where there were notes from all of my friends. Lorcan had written 'Happy Birthday, Al, have a good one', Rose had written 'Happy birthday favourite cousin ever! Xxx', which was in very extravagant handwriting. Roxy had written 'Happy birthday Al, and Rose I thought I was your favourite cousin?! Xx', I chuckled at this. Scorpious had scrawled 'Happy Birthday, Mate' with a smiley face, next to Manon's slanted 'Happy Birthday Al x' with a heart. At the bottom Heather had written, 'Happy Birthday, moron ', and I smiled, and that warm fuzzy feeling came back.

I glanced back at the clock, noticing it was 7, and the guys would be waking up soon. Just as I thought this, Scorpious strolled out of the bathroom, flinging the curtains open on his way. When did he get up? I hurriedly stuffed the scrapbook back into the draw, and rolled out of bed.

"Good morning Al!" Scorpious chirped, very unlike himself. I narrowed my eyes at him, only to have him smile at me.

"What's wrong with you?" I said, sitting back down on the bed.

"Nothing?" he said, looking at me like I was the one who was insane. He was the one who was far from sane.

I shrugged off his odd behaviour and began getting dressed for classes. Lessons were cancelled this morning because 4th years had to have dance lessons, and it was compulsory, unfortunately.

I was still musing over why on earth Scorpious was so elated this Monday morning, and the fact it was Monday was even odder.

Breakfast passed in a blur, but did involve Rose receiving a howler from her Dad, telling her to end whatever relationship her and Scorpious were in the midst of, which lowered Scorpious' mood considerably. Rose insisted she would not be breaking up with him, though her voice did sound a bit on edge.

We were all assembled in the great hall, boys seated on one side and girls on the other, whilst Professor McGonagall paced in the middle, explaining the beauty of the coming Yule ball, and telling us how important it was that we knew the correct way to dance. I saw Lorcan shrug; he wasn't even going to the ball because, even after I tried persuading him, he hadn't asked Manon.

"Now, boys and girls, whenever you are ready, take to the floor and pair up" she clapped her hands, indicating for Filch to attempt to work the large gramophone in the corner. Suddenly loud classical music echoed through the hall, and people began to get up.

I saw Scorpious and Rose walk over to each other, almost like they were being pulled towards each other by the 'force of love' as Roxy had said before.

Soon it was just me, Lorcan and a few other guys sitting down, hands in pockets. Suddenly I felt Lorcan push me, as Heather was walking over.

"Hey, erm, do you want to dance? You know, as practice" She mumbled, looking slightly embarrassed, and I could see Roxy nodding in the background.

"Sure, why not?" I said, smiling. She dragged me towards the centre of the floor.

It was a bit awkward, and I didn't quite know what to do, and Heather just laughed, grabbed my hand and placed it on her waist. I blushed at this sudden gesture, but reluctantly stepped closer, and I heard Lorcan wolf whistle in the background. I turned to glare at him, only to see Manon marching over, looking quite angry that he hadn't bothered to get up and ask her to dance.

I turned back to Heather, and her eyes locked with mine. I was trying hard to think of something to say, but was in a bit of a daze.

"So, how's your shoulder?" I asked it was the only thing I could think of to say at that moment.

"Fine, thanks, I don't think I ever properly got to thank you actually. So thank you, Albus Potter, for preventing my early grave" she curtsied slightly, smirking.

I rolled my eyes, and as she rose back up, I noticed a strand of her wavy blonde hair had fallen in front of her face, and I absentmindedly let go of her waist and brushed the hair out of her face. I quickly put my hand back on her waist, just realising what I had done. Her mouth was slightly open, and her eyes were wide. Oops.

"Sorry, it was just"- I started.

"Don't worry about it" She said, smiling at me. Phew, I thought she was going to start teasing me about it.

When she smiled, it was like a million waves of energy shot through me, and my heart hammered against my chest.

"Al, why did you ask me to the ball?" she said quietly, her sarcastic demeanour leaving.

"Why not, we're friends" I said.

"But you hate me?" It was more of a statement than a question, as she looked at her feet.

"What?! No I don't?"

"Really?" She looked up. "Of course not" I said.

"Well, I mean sometimes we argue and you can be really annoying and frustrating, and you drive me crazy but"- I began, but she cut me off.

"Al, just shut up" She smirked, "Friends?"

"Friends" I said.

HEATHER POV

It was an hour after dance lessons now, having established my official 'friendship' with my former enemy. I felt a lot happier, and was in the mood to talk to someone.

Roxy and I were in the library, finishing some last minute potions homework.

"Roxy, do you think Lorcan will ask Manon to the ball?" I wondered, because I think it was really starting to get to Manon.

"I want him to, they would be SO cute together, you know, like the right balance of trouble and wit" Roxy mused, chewing on her fluffy pen.

Where were the others anyway? I knew Scorpious and Albus were at Quidditch practice, having won the game where I nearly died. I knew Rose was at charms tutoring with Aria Knott, but I had no idea where Lorcan or Manon were.

I finished my potions homework quickly, as our free time was nearly over. Roxy rushed off to meet Josh Abbot about something she had spluttered out so quickly I had no idea what she was saying, so had just nodded and let her go.

I wandered back up to my dorm, I still had 20 minutes to spare. As I walked into the common room, it was deserted, apart from some sixth years. I dragged my feet up to our dorm room, and that was also empty. I plonked myself down on my bed, when I noticed Leo, my owl, tapping at the window, a letter in his beak.

I opened it, taking the letter, giving Leo a pat on the head, sending him off. I sat back down to open it, and carefully unfolded the piece of paper.

Scrawled in familiar handwriting, were the words;

_I promise, I don't hate you _

_-A_


	10. Hair Charms and Confusion

HEATHER POV

I woke up in the middle of the night, much to my surprise, but it turned out Roxy was also awake.

"Roxy, what are you doing? Its 4:30am?" I said, yawning.

"I couldn't sleep" She moaned, sitting up. Her hair was beyond curly and was now a ball of frizz. I struggled to hold in my laughter.

I groaned as well, it was freezing, and I got up to shut the window. Who even opened it?

I turned back to say something to Roxy, who I noticed was already snoring. I rolled my eyes, and settled back down in my comfy bed, and felt sleep creeping onto me.

I woke up, again, but this time it was actually 7:30, and I ran over to shake Roxy, our other friends had already left for breakfast.

"ROXY!" I shrieked into her ear.

She shot up, and we nearly banged heads. "What?" She groaned, scratching her head.

"Its 7:30!" I cried, pulling on my uniform, and ended up putting my jumper on backwards. It was a speedy process getting dressed, but Roxy insisted that she could never go down to breakfast with her hair in such a state, so we were held back another 10 minutes as she charmed her hair to fall in loose curls. It took 10 minutes instead of 2 because she couldn't remember the charm. Typical.

When at last we paraded down to breakfast, my blonde hair also in curls because Roxy wasn't satisfied with only using the charm once, it was 30 minutes until potions.

We walked over to the Ravenclaw table, as usual, to see Rose and Manon, and I noticed Lorcan was sitting over at the Slytherin table with Al and Scorpious.

"GUYS GUESS WHAT!" Rose shouted at us, and receiving a glare from Manon, she lowered her voice to a harsh whisper. "Lorcan still hasn't asked Manon!" I could see Manon was acting like she wasn't listening, but her face turned a slight shade of pink.

"What's that about me?" Lorcan smirked; they had come over from the Slytherin table. I absentmindedly made space next to me, and Albus walked round and sat there. I mentally kicked myself over what I had just done. Friends, I reminded myself, friends. Lorcan sat opposite Manon, the latter refusing to make eye contact with him. This frustrated Lorcan a great deal, I could tell. I snorted, attracting an odd look from Scorpious.

"SO!" Rose squealed "Tomorrow is Saturday, and that means?" She clapped her hands together.

"Yule ball shopping?" I guessed sarcastically.

"YES!" Rose squeaked, Scorpious shaking his head at her, smiling.

"We're going first thing in the morning, Ladies!"

"What's the point of me going, I don't even have a date?" Manon said looking genuinely upset.

This made Lorcan look highly uncomfortable, and he received a glare from everyone but Manon, who was fiddling with her uneaten toast. He sheepishly ran a hand through his hair, and glance at Manon, looking extremely pained.

"You're coming, and you will get a date"- Roxy shot Lorcan a glare- "so you are going to get the perfect dress"

Manon shrugged. I did feel sorry for her, even though my date didn't exactly _like_ me, in that way.

I got up, poking Roxy, as it was time for potions, and the others traipsed off to charms. As we were walking down the hallway we just happened to bump into the one and only Josh Abbott, whom I didn't have a problem with, but it just meant I didn't have anyone to talk to.

I slowly drifted off, and started thinking about the first thing that popped into my head, Albus. I shook my head, physically trying to clear him from my mind. I tried to think about Quidditch, but my thoughts were constantly interrupted by dark black hair and sparkly green eyes. Eugh. I decided to give up on thinking as we walked into potions, and we were in time to bag seats at the back.

I was twiddling my wand around as Slughorn came in, and began babbling about Essence of Dittany. It wasn't a practical today, just note taking for the upcoming test. I scribbled down a few things, which were accompanied by doodles, including the snitch, Lucian, and Roxy leaning over a potion which proceeded to blow up in her face. I smiled at the last one, making me feel particularly evil, especially when Roxy leaned over to get some ink and saw it, and then began to hit me profusely with her textbook. Josh just sat there laughing. Well thanks Josh.

I was in the middle of a detailed drawing of Scorpious and Rose's wedding, when Slughorn announced it was time to go. Time for Arithmancy. Woohoo.

Arithmancy wasn't so bad, Professor Vector was alright. We were also just making notes on complex number charts. It took me ages to get up here, though, it being on the seventh floor and all. I was sat next to Albus, not by choice, it was actually a seating plan based on ability, which meant we were at the back.

Albus was being extremely annoying without intending to; bouncing his knee at a terrific speed under the table we were on.

"Albus, stop it. You'll start an earthquake!" I whispered harshly. He rolled his eyes, but stopped. I smirked. He went back to add to his long list of notes. I gaped at his lengthy notes and then compared it to my small paragraph, accompanied by the famous doodles.

Albus saw me struggling to add notes, and passed me his notes. I smiled thankfully at him, and opened my mouth to say something when Professor Vector spoke.

"Miss McAffrey, could you save your relationship with Mr Potter for after class, thank you" receiving a few giggles from various students. Albus smirked and swung back in his chair. I glared at him, forgetting the fact he had given me his notes. I glanced at the clock and noticed there was only a few minutes left of the lesson, and began packing up my belongings.

I had a free lesson now, so I had arranged to meet Rose and Manon in the Ravenclaw common room. I think Roxy had a library 'date' or something.

I made my way down the seven flights of stairs, beginning to lose my will to live on the 4th one. I finally made it to the Ravenclaw tower; feeling exhausted, and then remembered that I had to answer the riddle. As I reached the door, it spoke;

"Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?" It said. My tired brain had had enough. I pondered for a good five minutes, before I heard a voice say,

"A circle has no beginning" I span round to see Manon, holding a divination text book, and she grinned at me as the door flew open, to reveal Rose sitting cross legged on one of the blue sofas, flicking through Witch Weekly. Manon stepped in, and I followed, and we plonked our stuff down next to Rose, who sat up straight in surprise.

Manon made herself comfortable on the floor in front of her, and I sat down next to her. Manon began to play her cd which Lorcan made for her. I still couldn't get over how sweet that was. As music filled the otherwise empty common room, Rose insisted she tried out her new hair charms on Manon and I, to which we both reluctantly gave in.

Manon volunteered to go first, and let out her long fishtail braid, her blue ends still there.

"Comam Cirrus!" Rose muttered, and Manon's once slightly wavy hair slowly rippled into beautiful curls, making me want to have a go. Whilst Manon admired her new locks, I positioned myself in front of Rose on the floor, and Rose brandished her wand, smirking.

"Comam Longus" Rose said, and suddenly my hair grew down to my waist, curling slightly at the end. Manon gasped, still pulling at her brown/aqua curls, and my mouth fell open. I stood up and swished my head around, delighting in my newfound hair.

"It lasts as long as you want it to, and you just have to say 'Reditio' and it will go back to how it was" Rose shrugged, and brandished her wand, pointing at her own curls, and muttered,

"Comam Rectas" and her hair suddenly went dead straight and shiny, and she then said 'Parva Clavi' and a small braid appeared and wrapped itself around the top of her head. Manon and I had our mouths hanging open by the end.

"Rose, where did you learn this?" I muttered, touching my long blonde hair. "Aunt Fleur" She shrugged.

It was lunchtime, and unlike the others I had Reditio-ed my hair, so it was back to its normal length. Manon was too in love with her new curls, and Rose defended herself, saying she thought it suited her, which I couldn't argue with.

We walked in to lunch, already smelling the fresh bread, and seated ourselves on the Ravenclaw table. The guys were over on the Slytherin table again, Scorpious looking like he wanted to join us, but Albus in the middle of what looked like a very stern chat with Lorcan.

I helped myself to a ham sandwich, and some pasta salad. Lunch passed in a blur, and so did the next 2 lessons.

It was around 8:30 at night, and I was brushing my teeth, about to get changed for bed, when Leo tapped his beak at the window, so I walked over and let him in. I opened the piece of scrap paper stuck wedged in his beak, and I opened it.

_Meet us at 8:30 in the Ravenclaw Common room_

_-R&R&M xoxox_

I sighed, and put my jumper back on and hurried out of the Gryffindor common room, and checked the surroundings for prefects, and then I ran pretty fast in my converses, to the Ravenclaw tower. The door was open, thank god, and I slowed down and walked in.

I could see Rose was already trying out her hair spells on Roxy, who was looking just as excited as I did earlier, and Manon was lazily re-braiding her hair.

"Heather! Ok now we can begin" Rose said, completing a braiding charm on Roxy.

"What was so urgent?" I said, accepting a peppermint cream from Manon, sitting cross legged on the floor.

"We need to discuss what our Yule Ball outfits are! We can't just turn up at Hogsmeade having no idea of what we're going to wear" Rose said, like I was stupid.

Roxy tossed me a copy of Witches Wardrobe, whom had a small shop near the end of Hogsmeade. I gingerly opened it; I was not one for wearing dresses normally.

5 minutes in, we were all gathered round the catalogue, Roxy having already chosen a gorgeous long Red dress and a Rose flower crown. Rose had chosen a beautiful long green/blue dress, which would complement her eyes nicely. It was only me and Manon who hadn't decided. Manon insisted that she would decide when we got there, and went back to doing her braid. I knew I wanted something of a Jade-y type colour, like a deep green. I shut the catalogue, after flicking through the whole thing and not finding anything. Rose insisted that we would find something, feeling sorry for me.

"I think Scorpious, Albus and Lorcan are in the kitchens talking, so we have ages" Roxy said, and I noticed Manon wince at the mention of Lorcan. Poor thing.

"So, are you and Scorpious still going strong?" Manon said, changing the subject.

"Yes! Oh why didn't I realise he liked me before? You guys should've told me!" Rose grumbled, crossing her arms.

"Sorry, Rosie, but when someone likes you, other people will try to let you figure it out yourself" Roxy said, and I could have sworn she looked directly at me as she said it.


	11. Hogsmeade Village and An Arrival

ALBUS POV

I had woken up for the fifth time that night, beginning to get extremely annoyed at Scorpious, as he tossed and turned, muttering 'Rose' and 'Beautiful' over and over and over again. It was distracting and was keeping me up.

"Scorp!" I whispered. "Scorp!" I said, a little more harshly. "SCORPIOUS MALFOY!" I said loudly, and that sure as hell woke him up.

"What?!" He groaned, not giving me time to answer before rolling over and falling back asleep. I sighed and turned over to look at the clock. 7 am. I thought this was a sufficient time to wake up, as breakfast started soon. I rolled out of bed, wandering to the bathroom to tame my hair and get washed.

When I emerged about 10 minutes later, Evan and Flynn had gone, and Scorpious was slumped on his bed, fully clothed in his clothes, but still asleep. I had lost hope.

I walked over to his bed and shook him roughly by the shoulders, something my dad would not be proud of. My mum on the other hand probably would. "Scorpious!" I yelled, and he shot up and out of his bed quicker than a nimbus 2100. He looked startled as I stood there staring at him, then he ran a hand through his hair and began to walk towards the stairs. Ok then.

We plodded down to breakfast, and saw Lorcan sitting at the Ravenclaw table, looking extremely nervous. I rolled my eyes; he had put himself in this position, and was definitely going to get himself out of it. Stupid Jordan.

We sat down, and began talking to him, just as the girls walked over, Manon's face falling as she saw Lorcan sitting there. I don't blame her; he had just asked some slut instead of her.

Rose began explaining the intense details of the shopping trip, Heather just rolling her eyes. It was such a Heather thing, and it made my stomach do flips. Which was also highly annoying.

We were mid discussion of the coming Christmas at the burrow, and the fact Rosie had invited Manon and Heather, when Lorcan just decided to pounce on us that Jordan was coming as well. I internally winced at Manon's facial expression, looking hurt and then just downright angry. Everyone had shocked faces on.

"She's not even family?" I said, mentally slapping him.

"Yes well neither are Heather, Manon or Scorpious, but they're coming" Lorcan muttered, clenching his teeth at mentioning Manon. She just got up and stormed out, after saying something to Roxy, not looking back. Then the best thing happened.

Jordan came over.

"Good morning!" She beamed at the boys, after Heather and Rose left. Roxy was in the process of leaving, but something changed her mind, as she turned back around, picking up her pumpkin juice.

She then dumped the contents on Lorcan's head. Then she stomped out as well, and Scorpious and I struggled to contain our laughter.

"What a bitch! Aw, look at you!" Jordan said, using her cuff to wipe the worse of the juice off his hair, causing Lorcan to grimace. I also began to hate her even more after calling my cousin a bitch.

"So, what's the deal with your weird friends huh? You are all good looking guys, why on earth do you hang out with them, hm?" Jordan squeaked, resting her head in her hands, leaning forward slightly and revealing a little too much.

"You mean Rose, Manon, Roxy and Heather?" Scorpious questioned.

"Yeh, whatever their names are" She said, fiddling with Lorcan's jacket collar. "The odd Quidditch one, oh and that ginger one, eugh, she's so annoying!"

This set an inner fire off inside Scorpious, as I saw his jaw clench, and he glared at her, not saying anything, because Lorcan shot him a pleading look.

"And that weird one with blue hair? Manon? Like, does she even look in the mirror in the morning?" Jordan laughed, a high pitched evil sound, and I noticed Lorcan's teeth clench as well, shaking his head slightly. What was she doing, purposely insulting our friends?

"Oh and of course! That nerdy blonde one? Thinking she's so smart, what a loser!" That was it. I was gone. I clenched and unclenched my fists; she had stepped over the line with that one. I don't quite know what had come over me, as I felt an odd strong sense of responsibility for Heather, though I knew that she was perfectly capable of defending herself.

We all sat there for a good five minutes in a weird silence, which involved Jordan attempting to sit on Lorcan's lap, but he was having none of it, pushing her off firmly. She sulked, and then decided it was time for her to go to Hogsmeade, calling out to her friends. Finally. Lorcan and Scorpious breathed out, and I unclenched my fists.

"My god, Lorc. What have you got yourself into?" Scorpious breathed, looking genuinely scared for our friend.

Lorcan just shrugged, and excused himself to go to the bathroom to clean up, still having pumpkin juice dripping off him, insisting we meet him before we leave, at the exit.

Lorcan came out around 10 minutes later, taking his time, and was wrapped up in his Ravenclaw scarf. Scorpious kicked some of the crisp snow on the ground, and we set off for Hogsmeade.

When we arrived, Lorcan mentioned he wanted to go to Honeydukes to stock up on peppermint creams, and Droobles gum, so we made a visit to the sweet shop. I browsed carelessly through the shelves stacked high with all sorts of flavoured sweets, I began to wonder what Heather's favourite was. I remember her mentioning Bertie Bott's, but I shook my head, why was I thinking of her? She barely liked me.

Lorcan purchased his much loved peppermint creams, and I decided on a chocolate frog, and found I had got the card of Albus Dumbledore, my namesake.

We trudged in a comfortable silence to the three broomsticks, munching thoughtfully on my chocolate frog, and we passed the dress shop, which was now quite empty apart from a small group of girls.

"Why are you reading muggle books? How _filthy_" I was the only one who heard this, Lorcan and Scorpious chatting. I knew it was Jordan. I stopped outside the shop, looking through the glass, and spotted Heather in a chair, reading a book, typically. Then I realised Jordan had just called heather filthy. I felt the familiar rise of anger in my stomach, and Lorcan and Scorpious had also stopped to listen.

"Oh do us all a favour and piss off, Jordan" Heather moaned. I snorted at her reply, and felt the fire of rage flicker out.

I heard a high pitched squeak, as Jordan turned on her 6-inch heel and stomped towards the exit of the door, and towards us. Lorcan looked suddenly extremely panicked, and I smirked. Whatever came his way, he deserved it. I cut him some slack, however, as he was my friend. I pushed us all into Three Broomsticks, narrowly missing an encounter with Jordan. We slumped down in a booth, removing our scarves.

"Bloody freezing" Scorpious muttered. I nodded in agreement, Lorcan just looked pained.

"What's wrong, Lorc?" I asked as he genuinely looked ill.

"Nothing" He said, brightening up.

"Good, It's the Quidditch term cup tomorrow, and I am determined to beat Hufflepuff" Scorpious said, rubbing his hands together maliciously. I smirked at his competitive side, which he got from his father.

"On the other hand, you should really be excited for Christmas at the burrow!" I smiled, feeling a flurry of excitement; it was my favourite time of year. "Also Grandma Molly says she is throwing a New Year's party, in honour of our extra guests, so be prepared for that as well" I was really looking forward to this Christmas.

Lorcan began to cheer up a bit at this remark; I knew it was his favourite time as well.

"What's happening with my sister and your brother, do you know?" I questioned, because I hadn't heard much from Lily or Lysander.

"Oh I know he asked her to the Yule Ball" I grimaced "and that he asked her to be his girlfriend" Lorcan finished. "I have no idea what her reply was though" He added, pondering slightly, running a hand through his hair.

I hadn't really heard much from either of my siblings, to be honest, in the past few weeks. Oh well, I thought, they can get on with whatever their doing.

We drained the last of our butterbeers, and stood up and began to put our scarves back on, to venture into the snow storm which was taking place.

As we were on our way back, I noticed a small blonde figure, looking for something in the snow. I noticed it was Heather, and that her pack of friends had walked back without her. I gestured to Lorcan and Scorpious to go ahead, and that I would be there soon.

I jogged over to where Heather was searching, and I noticed she had no gloves or scarf on. She must be freezing, I thought.

"Hey Heather, what are you looking for?" I asked, reaching her. She spun round, and I noticed how adorable she looked with snowflakes dotted in her hair, concealed by a beanie, and snow caught in her eyelashes, her blue eyes sparkling.

"Oh, hey Al, I just dropped my necklace and I can't find it" She said, continuing to rummage through the snow.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a gold shiny object, sitting in a patch of fresh snow. I smiled, walked over and picked it up. Dusting the snow off of it, I could see there was a tiny gold 'H' charm dangling in the middle.

"This what you're looking for?" I smirked, holding up what I had just found.

"Yes! Thank you!" She said, picking up her book, and held out her cold hands for it. I then remembered she wasn't wearing a scarf and I was.

"Do you want to borrow my scarf? You look freezing" I said, about to take it off.

"No, no it's fine. I just misplaced mine" She shrugged. I remembered I was still holding her necklace, and gestured for her to turn around, so I could put it back on her. I thought it was the gentlemanly thing to do, so I did.

She gave in and turned, and I lifted up her blonde hair, and fastened the necklace quickly, removing my hands hurriedly. She turned back around, smirking at my clear awkwardness.

I shoved my hands in my pockets, and we made our way back towards the castle, as it was nearly time for dinner.

"I, erm, heard what Jordan said to you in the shop" I muttered.

"You did? Oh she is such a skank" Heather groaned. I chuckled at her obvious displeasure in Lorcan's new girlfriend.

We continued in a comfortable silence, and got back to the castle, just in time.

We were sitting at dinner, when a commotion ran out through the first years, murmurs of 'they're here' were echoing throughout the hall. McGonagall gave her little speech, and through the doors burst Durmstrang Institute, clad in travelling cloaks and black boots, and they were followed by Beauxbatons Academy, who walked in, the girls of the school had every boy drooling. How pathetic.

I turned my attention to the Ravenclaw table where Manon was being asked by a Durmstrang boy to pass him a dish, and further down I saw Lorcan fuming. Oh this was hilarious.

I turned back to the Gryffindor table, seeing Heather in deep conversation with Roxy, and watching her chattering, I felt my stomach to a rapid somersault, and that's when I realised something.

I did like her.

A lot.


	12. Another Request and a Realisation

HEATHER POV

It was the big day for Scorpious and Albus. It was the mid-term Quidditch cup. It wasn't like an official Quidditch cup, but it was a competition held whenever the captains could be bothered to hold it, which was rarely.

"Morning Roxy, what on earth are you wearing?" I queried, at her interesting outfit choice. She had on a dark skater dress with stripy socks, and her beloved Quidditch jumper.

"What?" She glanced down at her outfit. I shrugged and let it slide; I wasn't one for fashion anyway. I pulled on a loose jumper and skinny jeans, with my converses, and searched yet again for my Gryffindor scarf.

"Rox, have you seen my scarf? I swear I had it last week" I uttered, and she shook her head, mumbling 'no' and went back to lacing up her own converses. I rolled my eyes at her lack of helpfulness, I really did need my scarf for the Quidditch game, or I would be freezing.

"I'm sure Albus will lend you his scarf, he has a spare anyway" Roxy mused, finishing with her shoes.

I grimaced at the thought of wearing a Slytherin scarf, but decided it was better than freezing to death in the cold. I dotted on some lip balm, and Roxy applied a quick coat of mascara, and then we were able to go to breakfast.

As we entered the great hall, I had completely forgotten Durmstrang were here, but realised when I saw Manon giggling at something one of them had said. There were two tall guys standing next to her, listening intently to something she was saying. I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Lorcan fuming, you could almost see smoke coming out of his ears. I found this amusing, and annoying, because he had got himself into this mess.

I sat down next to Rose and Roxy at the Ravenclaw table, opposite Lorcan, Albus and Scorpious. Manon came bouncing over, looking full of energy and eyes glistening.

"Hey!" She said, unconsciously sitting down next to Lorcan, and his face softened slightly.

I grabbed a piece of toast, and began coating it with jam, and decided to strike up a conversation.

"Excited for the Quidditch game?" I asked, looking at Albus, who seemed a bit dazed at my sudden attention, so Scorpious jumped in and answered.

"Yeh, not much competition, though. Hufflepuff just got to the final by luck" He said confidently, munching on his waffle. I nodded, pretending to agree with him. He shouldn't be that confident, Hufflepuff did have some pretty good players.

"You shouldn't be too confident, mate. Hufflepuff have some pretty good players" Albus said, echoing my thoughts. I stared at him for a moment, because he just stole the words out of my head. He caught me looking at him, and gave me a wink. I blushed slightly, coughing. He just smirked. He was such a moron, eugh.

Breakfast passed quite comfortably, except for the odd glares from Jordan, who Lorcan had sort of given a restraining order to stay with her friends at the Slytherin table, much to my pleasure, Lorcan wincing every time Roxy picked up her pumpkin juice.

It was an hour before lunch, and Manon, Albus and I had decided to go for a walk around the grounds. I wasn't sure where the others were, Scorpious and Rose probably eloped or something, Lorcan probably attached to Jordan in a broom cupboard somewhere, much to my disgust. Roxy mentioned something about homework, but we all knew that was some sort of slang for Josh Abbott.

We had made it to the edge of the forbidden forest, and I spotted two larger figures in the distance, approaching us.

"Who is that?" Albus muttered beginning to walk towards the fur clad figures.

"Oh! Its Dragomir and Ivan! The people I was talking to this morning, from Durmstrang" Manon exclaimed, smiling.

As they got closer, I noticed that they were both very handsome, one with curly dark hair, and the taller one had lighter hair, and a thinner frame. They both had dark brown eyes, and charming smiles. Albus looked at them with disgust, which amused me considerably.

"Hello, Manon" The one with the darker hair said, Dragomir, I think.

"Hello Dragomir, these are my friends, Heather and Albus. Guys, meet Ivan and Dragomir" Manon smiled. So that was the tall one's name. He seemed to be looking at me suggestively, so I took a step behind Albus, who took a step forward.

Dragomir began a conversation with Manon, so Albus and I just stood around, becoming interested in the grass, when Ivan spoke up.

"Heather, am I right?" I nodded; his voice had a thick Bulgarian accent. "Vell, you are very beautiful girl" He said, his grammar annoying me a little bit, but I just plastered on a big smile.

"Thank you, you're quite charming yourself" I replied, and I saw Albus' fist clench. Oh this was hilarious.

"Vell, since a beautiful girl eez here, I have a request to make" He took a small breath "Vould you, by any chance, like to accompany me to ze Ball?"

I took in a sharp breath. I mean, he was handsome, but I had promised Albus, plus the fact it had shocked me. I stood there for a while, my mouth hanging open.

"Vell? Vat is your reply?" Ivan smirked, thinking it was his charm that was having this effect on me.

"No thanks" I said, simply.

"VAT?" He cried. I giggled. Albus had a proud smile on his face.

"She's going with me, mate" Albus said, broadening his shoulders.

"Oh, sorry, I did not realise you two vere an 'item'" Ivan mumbled, ruffling his golden hair.

"No, no, we're not. We're just friends" I stuttered. Albus smiled at me, and for a moment I wondered, what he did like me like that?

I turned back to Manon, whose eyes were shining, and Dragomir wore a broad smile on his handsome face.

"I have a date to the ball now!" She smiled, and I couldn't help but feel slightly sad, because this eliminated all chances of her and Lorcan. But then, she was my friend, and I should feel happy for her. I smiled back and hugged her briefly. Albus also looked happy for her. I loved their friendship, it was adorable.

We left our Bulgarian friends, and made our way back to the great hall for lunch. On the way back up the hill, I walked in between Albus and Manon, when suddenly my hand brushed Albus', and I felt a strange wave of electricity shoot through me, and I yanked my hand away, turning my attention back to Manon. That was odd.

We continued back to the castle, where we went straight to the great hall, Manon insisted, to tell Rose about her date. We wandered over to the Ravenclaw table, where Scorpious and Rose were, along with Lorcan. I noticed Roxy was over at the Hufflepuff table, nattering away to Josh, and I couldn't help but smile.

I helped myself to some pasta, and some salad, while glancing at Rose's reaction to Manon's lazy recount of what happened earlier, Lorcan looking like he was about to cry, or burst into flames. I sniggered into my napkin, wondering what on earth was running through his head. Roxy was also supressing a giggle. I pushed my food around, as Scorpious and Albus walked back in, clad in Quidditch gear. I envied them; I wanted to go flying as well.

We decided it was time to get going to watch the Quidditch, and we waved goodbye to Albus and Scorpious. Before Albus left, he walked up to me.

"Hey, Roxy said you lost your scarf? Well, you can borrow mine if you want" He said, holding out his striped Slytherin scarf, and I decided it would do no harm, so I accepted it.

"Thanks, good luck" I said, crossing my fingers. He smiled, making my insides go all fuzzy, and he walked off.

I made my way to the stands, following the others, Roxy having t been forced not to support Josh and to stick with Slytherin. As we walked onto the stands, I saw Manon collide with Jordan, Her golden-blue hair flying in the wind, much to Lorcan's horror. Who was he going to help up? I breathed out when I saw his hand go out to Manon, one of Jordan's minions helping her up. Lorcan muttered something to Manon, who smiled and let go. Jordan went into a strop, and he said something to her, and she smiled, and then kissed him hard on the mouth, much to his shock. Manon's mouth fell open, and I pulled her arm to come and stand with me.

Her face was still frozen with shock and hurt, and then she snapped her mouth shut. She wiped her eyes subtly, but I knew Lorcan saw, because that pained look flashed across his face again, as he wiped the lipstick off his face with the back of his hand.

"Whose is that?" Manon gestured to the scarf in my hand.

"Oh, Albus'" I said, remembering I was holding it. I began to wrap it around my neck, when I froze.

I knew that smell. Where was it from? I smelled it again, and again. I couldn't place it. I decided to ignore it, and focused on the Quidditch game, and it turned out it was 10 minutes in, Slytherin on a strong lead.

"And that was another great save from Chris Montague, keeping the Slytherin lead strong" Ashley Jordan's voice echoed throughout the field. I was watching Albus fly around gracefully, dodging the other players skilfully. I cheered with the rest of the crowd, Manon clapping loudly.

I inhaled again, that familiar smell from Albus' scarf floating back to me. It was bloody confusing; I had never worn his scarf before, so where on earth could I have smelt it? It smelt nice, to be honest.

I then heard the loud announcement that Albus had seen the snitch, and along with the rest of the students, I stood on my tiptoes, craning my neck to try and get a glimpse of what was going on.

I held my breath as Al torpedoed to the edge of the pitch, and watched as he closed his hand around the snitch. Everything froze for a moment, and suddenly the crowd erupted in cheers.

"He's done it! Potter has caught the snitch, leading to another Slytherin victory!" Ashley's voice boomed.

"WOO GO ALBUS!" Rose shrieked, clapping wildly. I smiled and clapped as well.

We walked down from the stands, going to congratulate Albus and Scorpious on their successful win, when it hit me.

The smell.

I knew it.

I muttered something quickly to Roxy about the toilet, and ran with all my energy towards the school. This is where being on the Quidditch team came in handy, I was fit. I raced past surprised students, all the way to the Gryffindor common room, where I whispered the password hurriedly, and the door swung open. I didn't stop there. I charged up to my dorm, and straight to my bedside table. I rummaged around in the draw and I felt it.

The Amortentia.

I had kept a small bottle full of it from our lesson, to be used for pranks and other stuff, but I didn't know it would come to this. I held my breath, this wasn't happening.

I unscrewed the lid, slowly, and shut my eyes.

I put my face above the swirly curls of smoke emitting from it. Yep, there was the Vanilla ice cream, the books, and the smell.

The smell of Albus' scarf.

I snapped my eyes open, and breathed out. I widened my eyes, in shock. I didn't like Albus, did I? Well I suppose he is charming, handsome, funny, smart, irritating, nice, kind- Oh my God.

I was falling for Albus Severus Potter.


	13. I'm a Whole Different Story

ALBUS POV

Oh no. It was the Yule ball today, and I had unfortunately woken up horribly early to the sounds of snoring, presumably coming from Scorpious' bed. How typical. I sighed, rolled over, and then it hit me.

It was the Yule ball today. It was Christmas Eve today. Heather was my date. To the Yule ball. Oh my God.

I shot up in bed, it being 6:30 I decided it was perfectly ok to get up. I tiptoed to the window, and confirmed that there was snow, and that this meant the ball was going to be even more cliché. I yawned and began to get dressed in my casual clothes, when Scorpious stirred from his deep sleep.

"Good morning, Al" He muttered, his voice heavy with sleep. To my surprise he did not go back to sleep, but jumped out of bed and leapt towards the bathroom.

I decided not to question his antics, and thought it was obviously the odd effect Rose was having on him.

I ran a hand through my bed hair, making it somewhat presentable, and tied up my shoes. I shoved my pyjamas into the case I had for the burrow, where all the gang was going for Christmas, plus every other relative we have. I neatly tucked in the scarf Heather had returned to me, and it now smelt of Vanilla perfume, not that I minded.

Around half an hour later, Scorpious emerged from the bathroom, looking yet again just as presentable as when he went in. God's sake.

I waited for Scorp to put on his shoes, and then we went down to breakfast. In our usual spot, on the Ravenclaw table, there seemed to be another girl sitting there, chatting to Manon, who was sitting next to Heather, who was next to Rose, and they were facing a tired Lorcan.

We went and sat down, and I could get a closer look at this girl. She had hair that cascaded down her back in brown waves, and the odd blue streak. Her face was sort of fairy-like, decorated with a silver nose stud, and she had piercing green eyes, like Manon. As for her clothes, she was wearing a galaxy print t shirt with skinny jeans and black boots, and had a flower crown around her head, giving her an overall very pretty look.

Manon noticed the new arrivals, and introduced us.

"Guys, this is Elodie Lascar, my cousin from Beauxbatons. She is in second year, like Lily and Hugo, and she's transferring here after Christmas" Manon said, Elodie gave a lazy wave.

"Hi" She said, and I decided I liked her, and that she was nice, if a bit troublesome.

"Ohandcanshecometotheburrowforchristmas?" Manon blurted, looking nervous.

"Why not? We have loads of people coming anyway; why not throw in another one?" I smiled at Elodie, who looked relieved.

We ate breakfast, chatting about the upcoming Yule Ball, and what everyone had decided to wear, whilst Lorcan just glared at Dragomir, who was sitting on the next table. Elodie went over to talk to Hugo, whom I assume she met earlier, causing Rose to raise an eyebrow.

Heather hadn't really spoken much at all during breakfast, but she looked considerably calm compared to Rose who was stressing about her dress. Heather just sat examining her freshly painted nails, which I assume Rose did, and I couldn't help but wonder; was she comfortable with me as her date?

She glanced up and smiled at me, and it made me feel 10 different types of happy.

Roxy suddenly ran in, telling Rose to come with her somewhere, and they left. Manon said something about a letter, and glancing at Lorcan she too walked out. Lorcan got up as well and walked out. Everyone left until only me and Heather.

There was a highly awkward silence, and then I decided to start a conversation.

"Take a walk with me?" I said, being completely calm.

She opened her mouth a little, and then nodded her head.

"Sure, let me just get my scarf"

"Oh, you found it?" I asked.

"Yeh, it was in my trunk" She rolled her eyes, the old Heather I knew was back. She got up and ran off, and I pulled on my jacket and walked out of the Hall, and waited for Heather. The corridors were deserted now, only one or two people left in the great Hall, and most people had gone to Hogsmeade.

I spun around when I heard her coming back down, and I smiled at her. She beamed back at me, exaggerating her smile. I rolled my eyes and sighed. She doesn't give in easily.

We were about to leave, when I heard two hushed voices coming from the corridor away from us.

"Can you hear that?" "What?" "SHH!" I said.

"What?" she said again, in a lower voice. I didn't answer, and crept around the corridor, keeping against the wall. The voices became louder.

"You vill not disobey me again okay? Or this time zere vill be consequences" Said an angry Bulgarian. I saw Heather clap a hand over her mouth.

"What is it?" I said, worriedly.

"That's Dragomir!" She whispered quickly.

We edged closer, and I could see Dragomir, who was cursing at a slutty girl who I hadn't seen before, probably Beauxbatons or an older year. She was pulling at his fur coat as he smiled at her, a smile I hadn't seen him use on Manon before, this one was more sinister. Then he grabbed the girl by the waist and kissed her on the lips.

I heard Heather breathe in sharply, and my mouth fell open. How could he do this to Manon?!

I pulled Heather back to the corridor we were originally on, and I breathed out heavily.

"We should tell"- "No, we shouldn't. Not until after the Ball" Heather said.

I nodded, and ran a hand through my hair, and we continued walking down to the exit in a comfortable silence.

"So have you heard from Jordan?" Heather queried.

"No? Should I have?" I said, curiously.

"No, just you're in the same house and all" She mused, burying her face in her scarf, it was freezing.

"No, she only hangs out with the good-looking guys" I joked, getting a smile from Heather.

"Just like some boys hang out with the pretty girls" She chuckled.

"I do" I said, looking her right in the eyes. She blushed slightly and turned away, and I smirked at her shy side.

"Did you just refer to me as pretty, Mr Potter?!" She faked a gasp.

"Whatever" I sighed, smiling.

We were walking along the path by Hagrid's hut, which was now coated in snow, which didn't help. There was a lot of tripping and laughing at each other.

I was glad I had asked her before somebody else had, like that Ivan thing. Eugh.

I then realised Heather had disappeared, and my first thought was worry, when suddenly a ball of snow hit me in the face. Directly in the face. I spluttered and wiped the snow off my face, to reveal Heather who was nearly in tears with laughter, in stitches.

I smiled evilly and, while she was laughing, I grabbed a handful of snow, shaped it into a rough ball, and lobbed it at her still chuckling figure. I heard her laughter abruptly stop, and she straightened up, her hair covered in snow. She shot me a signature glare, and I burst into peals of laughter. She began cursing under her breath, when suddenly something cold hit my neck. I turned back and saw her smirking.

"I will get you!" I yelled, as she took off into the snowy field, her boots burying in the deep snow, her hair flying out behind her. I shook my head and took off after her, at top speed, snowball in hand.

I reached her, grabbed her round the waist with one arm, and slapped the cold snow down on her head with the other.

She gasped and struggled out of my grip, bending over to pick up more snow, when I slipped and crashed into her, sending us both tumbling down the hill. I heard her shrill laugh all the way down.

When we reached the bottom, we were in some sort of heap, and my face was just inches from hers, as she was still laughing.

She stopped laughing when she noticed I was sort of on top of her, our faces centimetres apart. I felt her breath fan on my face, and she blinked a few times, snowflakes caught in her lashes and the white snow emphasising her blue eyes. We stayed like that for a good few seconds.

"Al…" She mumbled, and I snapped out of my mesmerisation.

"Right, yep, sure" I said, jumping up easily, and offering my hand to her. She gratefully took it, smiling. That was the second time I had almost kissed her.

HEATHER POV

I was honestly quite surprised when Albus asked me to go for a walk; I was trying to stay low since I had realised that I _liked_ him. I had never really liked anyone before, mainly because I thought all boys were immature and selfish and complete twats. But now, I was a whole different story, because he was a whole different story. And I liked new stories.

We were walking back to the castle for lunch, because we had been out in the snow for ages, after our little fall, and that odd moment, where i lost track of time for a moment, which was unlike me.

We walked back in, shaking the snow off and kicking the snow off our boots. As we walked into the great hall, Rose was amid some sort of panic attack, and Manon and Roxy were doing their best to calm her down. Lorcan and Scorpious were over at the Slytherin table, and Albus walked over to them.

"What's wrong?" I asked, taking an orange from the fruit bowl, as I sat down next to Roxy.

"WE ONLY HAVE SO MUCH TIME TO GET READY!" Rose hyperventilated, taking a gulp of water, and breathing heavily.

"She's a little bit stressed" Manon groaned, rolling her eyes. Roxy nodded, pouring more water for Rose, who was panting at this point.

"Rosie, it's 3 o'clock, we still have 3 and a half hours" I said, looking at her.

She nodded and composed herself, taking deep breaths. She smoothed out her red hair, which was straight today.

Once all was settled, we began a more mature conversation which had a purpose, as we ate lunch.

I felt like I should bring up Dragomir and the slutty girl, but then Manon wouldn't have a date and be angry and upset and all that. Speaking of slutty girl, I could see Jordan clinging to Lorcan from where I was sitting, Lorcan still looking uncomfortable with her. She kissed him on the cheek, and I spared him some pity.

I caught Albus' eye, and he smiled at me, his hair falling over his eyes, and I felt my stomach do a trillion somersaults and butterflies fluttered around inside. I mentally kicked myself for getting this messed up over a guy.

"I don't even know how I am going to do my hair!?" Rose cried, nearly in tears, as she fell back into her emotional breakdown. I knew she would be fine after she was ready.

"Just use one of your hair charms, it will be fine" Manon muttered, stroking Lucian, who had joined us for lunch.

Just then Elodie walked over from the Beauxbatons table, sitting down next to Manon opposite us on the bench.

"Hey guys" she greeted us, then turned towards Manon, and began whispering to her, and Manon nodding to whatever she was saying.

I turned back to Rose who seemed to have relaxed considerably, and she decided it was time for us to go and get ready for the ball.

I spared a glance at Albus, to see he was still in deep conversation with Scorpious and Lorcan. I sighed and followed the others to Manon and Rose's dorm, waving to Elodie on my way out, who had gone back to talking to Hugo. I wasn't sure what was happening there.

We were all congregated in Manon and Rose's dorm; with the absence of their other dorm friends we had the room to ourselves. It was now only one and a half hours left until the ball started, and Rose was beginning to stress again. Oh for crying out loud.

I lay my dress out on Manons bed. I had ended up going for a knee length jade coloured dress, the top was covered with tiny green jewels, and the bottom went out a little bit, finishing just above my knees. I had paired it with some black heels Roxy had chosen for me, which I had been completely against at first. Next to my dress was Manon's, which was a knee length floaty white dress, complete with embroidered blue flowers finishing at the waist line, and the colour matched the ends of her hair. Rose had gone for a floor length green/blue dress, which went stunningly with her red hair, and had sequins sewn to the bodice. Roxy had a floor length red dress, which looked amazing against her dark skin.

Rose was in the process of aiding Roxy to zip up her challenging dress, which was almost as hectic as her cat woman costume at Halloween.

"Ow! Rose you are zipping my _skin_!" Roxy shrieked, jumping away from Rose's sharp grip on her dress.

"Well stay still then idiot!" Rose yelled back, shuffling in her long dress.

Manon walked out of the bathroom in her dress, looking beautiful, Lorcan would have a heart attack or two. Unfortunately she was going with that twat Dragomir. She began working at her makeup, creating a smoky effect on her eyelids. I sighed, I sucked at makeup, maybe she would help me again.

Rose was also doing her makeup, lining her eyes with a lighter colour, enhancing her dark blue eyes, and Roxy stayed with her trusty cat flicks.

"Manon? Bit of help?" I groaned, eyeing the various contraptions on the makeup table. She laughed, nodded, and gestured for me to come over. I got up, not yet in my dress, and she went to work, applying small amounts of makeup; it wasn't Halloween. She had done a little eyeliner and eye shadow, with a bit of mascara, and I loved the overall effect. She looked satisfied with her work, and went to doing up her shoes.

I eyed my dress, biting my lip, and went into the bathroom to get changed.

As I turned around in the mirror at my complete reflection, I felt a surge of happiness at my appearance, and did a little twirl.

I stepped out of the bathroom, and my friends froze.

"What?" I said, genuinely confused.

"Oh my God" Rose breathed, in the process of hitching up her dress.

"You look A-M-A-Z-I-N-G" Roxy gaped, and Manon nodded appreciatively.

I smirked and did another voluntary twirl, the green jewels catching the light.

"Albus is going to have a small stroke" Rose laughed, clasping her heels. We had 20 minutes left until the ball began, and I was beginning to feel a little nervous at the prospect of dancing with my 'friend' Albus.

"Wait! One more thing!" Rose clapped her hands, picking up her wand, she muttered one of her unknown hair charms, and my hair formed a messy side bun, complete with loose curls framing my face and a braided headband thing. I smiled, and was ready to go.

Rose had completed her hair into waves with a waterfall braid around the back of her head, Roxy had her hair in her long curls, along with her pink streak of course, and Manon had hers in beachy waves with her blue dip dye.

"You guys go ahead, I have to do something real quick" Manon said, putting in her earrings.

I shrugged and began to walk down the Ravenclaw stairs, to see the room deserted, except for Lorcan, who was sitting on one of the sofas, looking very charming in his dress robes.

"Hey, Lorcan" He turned around and took in our appearances, smiling.

"You look nice. Where's Manon?" He said, his face falling a bit.

"Oh she'll be down in a sec. Why are you here?" Rose said.

"Jordan" He muttered, saying something about how she was still getting ready so he came here.

"Guys we should go, your boyfriends will be waiting" I smirked.

They both squealed in excitement. To be honest I was more excited at the prospect of going to the burrow tonight; we were leaving at 11, and it was currently 6:45.

We ran/fast walked towards the staircase down into the corridor outside the great hall. When we reached it, I took a deep breath, winked at Rose and Roxy, and we began to walk down together.

ALBUS POV

"She'll be here any minute, Scorp, so shut up" I mumbled. It was 15 minutes into the ball, and I was getting bored, and a bit antsy. Scorpious had gone a bit overboard, and Josh, who was with us, was pacing.

When I said this, I heard footsteps at the top of the stairs, so I straightened my robes, and turned around.

"Bloody hell" I breathed.

She looked beautiful, and in that moment I was completely gone. Head over heels. Dizzy. Whatever.

She fiddled adorably with the hem of her dress, which brought out her eyes, and her blonde hair was in a hairstyle which was clearly done by magic, and it was perfect.

"Hey, Al" She said, swinging her dress around, her necklace also swinging around.

"Eh, yes, erm, yes, of course- I –I yes. Ok" I spluttered. Well done Albus, I thought, as Heather laughed, which was like some kind of music to me. I had no idea what was happening to me.

"Should we go in?" I said, finally managing to produce a full sentence. Heather smiled slightly, and accepted my arm as we walked in.

The atmosphere was amazing. There was an ice sculpture at the edge, and the round tables for the non-dancers on the side. The hall had been completely transformed into some sort of winter wonderland. I tried to remember the dance McGonagall had taught us, but as soon as I looked at Heather my head went all fuzzy again. What was happening?!

"Good evening, Boys and Girls. Please get ready for the opening dance" McGonagall announced, and Filch fumbled around with the large gramophone in the corner, attempting to produce the music.

I remembered that is was the opening dance, and I lead Heather to the dance floor, and saw Lorcan looking pained, and attached to his arm was Jordan, who was squeezed into a hot pink dress, which was quite revolting, to be honest. I also saw, nearby, was Manon and Dragomir, and I felt a surge of hatred for him, as he kept eyeing slutty girl over the top of Manon's head. He repulsed me. I also noticed Fred, who was in conversation, probably an argument, with Brittany, and then suddenly she gave up and agreed to whatever he was suggesting, and he began to dance with her.

I turned my head back to Heather, who was looking up at me, smirking. I was trying to figure out what she was smirking at, and then she rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand, placing it on her waist, and I had a flashback to our rehearsals.

The music started up, and everyone began twirling around the room, and soon it was a flurry of dresses and robes.

1, 2, 3, lift, 1, 2; I tried to count in my head, but ended up getting distracted whenever I made eye contact with Heather. Oh god she was killing me.

As soon as that dance was over, which thank God it was, the band came on and everyone dispersed and went to get drinks and all that. I noticed Dragomir lead Manon into a corner, and I was about to go and have a look as to what he was going to do, when Scorpious called me and Heather over. I glanced back reluctantly at Manon, but saw Lorcan was already on the case of keeping an eye on her.

"Hey, guys" I said, plonking down on a seat, after pulling one out for Heather.

"Hi" Smiled Rose, who was seated on Scorpious' lap, much to Heather's disgust.

We had a chat, some drinks, and the odd dance, when suddenly we heard muffled shouts and a loud snap. Then, a bloody Lorcan stumbled in to the middle of the floor, followed by a shocked Manon, and then a bruised Dragomir.

McGonagall walked over and sorted it out, and I caught 'leave' and 'disgrace' and then I saw the Durmstrang head drag an almost unconscious Dragomir out, yelling at him in a rapid Bulgarian. McGonagall sighed and sent Manon and Lorcan to get cleaned up.

"They really can't go on without each other" Rose muttered. Heather nodded, and I just grunted.

"Do you want to dance?" I asked Heather, who was playing with her necklace.

"Sure, why not?" She said, smirking. I smirked back and took her hand as we walked onto the dance floor.

"This next one is a slow one, so grab that special person of yours" Said the band singer, who sounded a bit tipsy.

I reluctantly put my arms on Heathers waist, and she rested her hands gently on my shoulders. Just as the song began, we made eye contact and began to move to the music.

_She can kill with a smile_

_She can wound with her eyes_

_She can ruin your faith with her casual lies_

_And she only reveals what she wants you to see…_

I began to think how much this song related to her, as she gave me a small smile, which sent me head over heels again. And again.

"Moron" She muttered, smiling.

Soon though, the song was over, and Lorcan and Manon came back in, the former looking considerably better than when he left. They walked off somewhere, perhaps to deal with a very over emotional Jordan.

**LATER ON**

It was now verging on 10:50, and it was time for everyone to leave and go home, so we went back to our respective dorms to collect our cases and to do a quick change into something more comfortable.

"Best. Night. Ever." Scorpious smiled, pulling on his jumper, and stuffing his robes into his case.

I couldn't help but slightly agree with him, Heather hadn't been that witty, and we had just had a really nice time. As friends. That part annoyed me a little bit. I pulled on my jacket, and put Felyx into his cage. I grabbed my wand, and we set off down the stairs, wishing Flynn and Evan a merry Christmas on the way down.

In the common room Lorcan was waiting patiently, his case in one hand and wand in another, his ipod already plugged in.

"Ready?" He said smiling, causing his split lip to bleed a little bit.

"What on earth happened to you?" Scorpious asked, but Lorcan just shrugged, saying her would explain later.

We ran quickly down to the entrance, and we met the girls, Roxy looking flustered, and the others looking tired.

"Ready for Christmas?" I smirked, glancing at Heather.

"Yep!" They chorused, looking a little bit more awake.

We made our way out, getting on a carriage to Hogsmeade station.

When we arrived at the station, it was 11 pm exact, and the train pulled up. We got all out respective belongings and got onto the train. It took us a while to find a compartment, but when we did it was near the end. We passed Elodie, Hugo, Lily and Lysander in one carriage, Teddy, Dom, Victoire, Molly, Lucy, Fred and Brittany in another. I had no idea where the others were.

I settled down in the corner, opposite Lorcan, Manon, Rose and Scorpious. Heather sat down next to me, and began to drift off to sleep. Lorcan was gazing out of the window, iPod on play, when Manon unconsciously rested her head on his shoulder and fell asleep, and Lucian snuggled on her lap. Lorcan gave a small smile and went back to his music. Rose was still awake, her and Scorpious talking quietly about something. I was about to settle down myself, when I felt something heavy on my shoulder, and I turned to see Heather, asleep, her head resting on my shoulder. I felt a small glow inside my stomach.

It seemed when she smiled, the more I wanted to hate her, but it was that very thing that made it impossible.


	14. It Looks Better on You Anyway

HEATHER POV

Walking into the burrow at around 11:30pm, I could already smell the smell of Christmas and Weasley. Two if my favourite smells, mind you.

An extremely tired Lily yanked Elodie up the stairs with her, off to find their room and go to sleep in order to be able to get up early for Christmas morning.

"Heather, my dear!" Molly whispered, having to keep quiet because the younger ones were already sleeping.

"Hey, Mrs Weasley!" I whispered back, accepting her hug.

"Oh please, call me Molly. Manon! You've grown!..." She walked off to talk to Manon. I said goodnight to Hugo, Fred, James, Louis and Teddy, who were all on the top floor.

Lucy, Molly, Victoire, Dominique, Brittany and Catherine also yawned and began to drag their feet up the stairs. They were all in a room next to the boys.

Our room (Manon, Me, Roxy and Rose's) was on the floor below, next to Lorcan, Albus, Scorpious and Lysander's bigger room. I waved to my sister lazily, and she sarcastically blew me a kiss, Babes the cat following at her heel. How lovely.

I glanced around the refurbished living room/ dining room, and spotted the beautiful big Christmas tree in the middle, laden with presents and goodies ready for us tomorrow morning.

I heard Albus' parents walk through the back door, smiling at them as they waved back. They were followed by Fleur and Bill, who were then followed by Roxy's and Rose's parents.

I yawned slowly, picking up my trunk, and followed my friends up the rickety wooden stairs, which had little twinkly fairy lights intertwined around the bannister, which I assumed was courtesy of either Fleur or Angelina.

"Oh my gosh I am exhausted" Rose said, opening the door to our room, at the back of the second floor.

I smiled at the familiar surroundings, the four cute beds around the outside, the walls decorated with a variety of paintings courtesy of Lorcan and Manon, and there was a balcony hidden behind the white drapes at the back. The room was also illuminated by the golden glow of fairy lights, and I began to wonder if Fleur had even done the boys rooms.

I flung my stuff down on the bed next to Manon, on the left side of the room. Rose immediately flopped down, fully clothed, and fell asleep. Roxy did the same, except she found the time to braid her hair and get into her comfortable looking pyjamas.

I sighed, digging around in my case for my pyjamas, but couldn't seem to find them.

"Manon" I whispered, to my friend who was mid fishtail braiding her curly hair, "Have you seen my pyjamas?" I queried, continuing to rummage through my case.

"No, sorry" She whispered back, "I would lend you some but I only have this pair, the other one is dirty" She muttered, and I shrugged. Looked like I was going to have to sleep in my clothes too.

I wandered across the landing towards the bathroom, before noticing the door to the boys room was ajar, and being the curious idiot I am, I looked in to see only Lorcan sitting cross legged on his bed sketching. He heard me, and got up.

"Hey, Heather" He said, and I walked in, craning my neck to see what he was drawing. I smirked when I realised it was a beautiful detailed drawing of Manon. Of course.

"Hey, Lorcan"

"Are you sleeping in your clothes or something?" He questioned, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No, I forgot my pyjamas" I shrugged, and he looked pitifully at me, before smirking and walking over to another bed where a case was open, and he grabbed a t shirt from it, throwing it at me.

"Here, wear this" He smiled, walking back to his bed, returning to the drawing.

"No, Lorcan, you don't have to lend me your"- I began

"It's not mine. It's Albus'" He smirked, looking at his sketchbook.

"Oh right, erm, ok. Thanks" I mumbled, clutching the shirt.

"Anytime, McAffrey" Lorcan winked, just as Scorpious walked in.

"Night, Boys" I smiled, leaving the door slightly ajar. I walked back into our room, to see Manon sprawled out under her duvet, soft snores emitting from her sleeping form, which I am sure Lorcan would've found adorable.

I threw the shirt on my bed, to get a good look at it, and saw it was one of his plain grey t shirts, and when I put it on, it was too big, (but smelt amazing) but I decided it would have to do. I slipped on a pair of Roxy's pyjama shorts, which were a bit too short, in my opinion.

I was just about to go to sleep, when I remembered I had completely forgotten to brush my teeth. I sighed and got up again, grabbing my tooth brush which had been chucked carelessly on the windowsill. I wandered back passed the boys room, only to see the bathroom was occupied.

"Hello?" I whispered, in fear of waking the whole house, though I knew the adults were still downstairs.

"Heather?" Albus' voice echoed through the small bathroom.

I breathed out in relief, I don't know what I was expecting.

"Hey" I said, walking in.

I was waiting for him to say something, when he didn't for about a minute, I turned to say something, only to notice his eyes were scanning me up and down, pausing at my too short shorts. Nice move there, Al.

"Hello?" I said, waving my hand in front of his face.

"Yep, erm, is that my shirt?" He said, his eyes snapping up to where they should be.

"Oh, sorry Lorcan gave it to me because I can't find my pyjamas, I hope you don't mi-"

"No, its fine! It looks better on you than it did on me anyway" He mused, making me blush slightly, much to my annoyance.

I went back to brushing my teeth, glaring at my hair in the mirror, which had just gone and messed itself up. I spat out the toothpaste and rinsed my mouth, bending down to reach the towel that had fallen on the floor. As I was doing this, I heard someone wolf whistle behind me. Now that was not Albus.

"Hey, Lady, cousin" Fred smiled brightly. I heard Albus mumble 'twat' under his breath, which made me giggle.

"Hey, Fred. How's your relationship going?" Albus smirked, knowing Fred was touchy about that particular subject.

"Oh piss off, Al." Fred groaned, putting his tooth brush back in the pot and marching out again.

I returned to putting my hair into a ponytail, when I caught Albus frowning at me in the mirror. I turned round to face him.

"What?" I said, freezing in what I was doing.

"Your hair" He said absentmindedly.

"What about it?" I said, confused as to where this was going.

"It looks nicer down" He whispered.

I felt my heart racing in my chest, and let my hair drop so it fell down my shoulders in its odd waves. I had no idea what I was trying to achieve, but I saw Albus smile slightly and ruffled his hair.

"Better" He smirked, looking like he had just won the lottery. I stood there opening and closing my mouth, thinking desperately of something to say, when I glanced up at the clock behind him, noticing it was 00:00.

"Merry Christmas, Al" I smiled brightly, then I turned at walked out of the bathroom, leaving Albus standing there with his mouth open.

I settled down in my bed for a short night's sleep, and vaguely heard a voice from across the hall.

"Merry Christmas, Heather" Albus said. I just smiled and picked up my wand, flicked it, and the door shut quietly.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS HEATHER!" came the yells from my friends, causing me to stir from my peaceful sleep, to see the faces of my three best friends hanging over me, all grinning wildly.

I smiled and buried my head under the covers, only to have an invisible force pull the covers off of me. I forgot Manon was the master of force type spell things.

I sighed and rolled out of bed, when suddenly our door flew open to reveal Lily.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" She yelled, and if anyone wasn't awake, they were now. She ran off down the stairs, followed closely by Elodie, still in their pyjamas, hair flying out behind them.

I rolled my eyes, and got up from my bed, to see Manon and Rose already gone, beds unmade. I smoothed out Albus' shirt, and dragging a comb through my wild hair. Thanks, Al, for having an odd force over me that made me willingly sleep with my hair down, I thought. When I was presentable, I looked over at Roxy, who was taking out the tight braids in her hair so it formed amazing perfect curls, making her look nice for just waking up.

We walked together down to breakfast, where everyone (by that I mean a lot of people) were gathered around the extended table in the dining room.

"Morning!" George smiled at me, with his mouth full, earning him a glare from Angelina.

I took a seat in between Manon and Albus, and tried to supress an eye roll when Manon raised her eyebrow at me.

I accepted a piece of toast from Fleur, who was playing waitress or something, and looked over at Teddy and Victoire, the former feeding the latter a piece of toast. Oh how _lovely_.

I was in deep conversation with my sister and Louis about the presents I had gotten people, not that I was giving anything away, when suddenly there was a loud 'Poof!' from the fire place, and a cloud of green smoke.

The mist cleared to reveal a figure clad in, well, almost nothing considering how cold it was.

"LORCY!" Came a high pitched squeal, and I saw Manon wince.

Jordan tottered over in her ridiculous heels, and she was wearing a horrendous pink mini skirt and a jumper which hugged her chest a little too much.

"Jordan, dear, how nice to see you" Molly said, faltering slightly.

"Oh, Millie!" She said, going to embrace Molly, who didn't even bother to correct her. I heard Lysander snort on his cereal, receiving a slap from Lily and a glare from Lorcan.

She took a seat next to Elodie, who inched away from her in disgust towards Hugo, who didn't seem to mind at all at their close proximity.

Suddenly the whole room lit up and mistletoe leaves appeared in various places around the room, and Molly smiled.

"Oh, here is the mistletoe; I ordered it to appear this morning. Good luck!" She said, eyeing everyone. I glared at the mistletoe, it was so inconvenient.

I returned my focus to Louis and Catherine, but they had gone into discussion about something else, so I just looked around the table.

There was Fred and Brittany, looking a bit more comfortable in each other's presence, which was progress for Fred. James and Teddy, along with Victoire and Dom, were in a collective argument about something in the Daily Prophet, then there was Roxy and Rose, talking about the pros and cons of new Quidditch captains, Rose looking oblivious the whole time. Next to them were Lucy and Molly and Elodie and Hugo, who were seeing who could flick something into someone glass, god knows. Next were Lorcan and Jordan, put I skipped over their analysis. Then it was Lysander and Lily, looking adorable together, I decided. I saw Albus, Scorpious and Manon talking about Lucian, who was perched on the table looking smug at all his attention. I rested my head in my hands, and breathed in the smell of Christmas.

I smiled, chewing on my toast, and aside from Jordan's brief visit, it was going to be the best Christmas I had had in a long while.


	15. He Changes The Weather

**ALBUS POV**

I finished helping Aunt Angelina clear the various breakfast things and used my wand to clean the table, making sure everything was clean because I knew that Angelina would be checking.

"Looks good, you can go" She winked, smiling. I sighed (in relief) and went to sit with the others in the living room, narrowly dodging a stray piece of mistletoe, which I could have sworn was following me.

As I walked in, the whole gang was sitting around the large twinkly tree, and the adults in various chairs with cups of coffee, or champagne in Fleur's case. I sat on the floor in a little circle made by my friends, Lorcan, Manon, Heather, Rose, Roxy and Scorpious. I placed my box of goods in front of me, and eyed up everyone else's.

"Okay, Children" I just _loved_ it when Molly referred to us as children, "You may hand out your presents!"

I chucked Lorcan his, same with Scorp, and handed the girls their presents, then proceeded to throw presents around the room at the various people whose they were, and heard a few groans and ouches.

I accepted the various presents which were thrown at me, and scooped them to form a little pile. I smirked as I was able to recognise the wrapping techniques of my friends. Rose had gone all out, finished with a pink bow, Roxy had not gone quite as extravagant and hers, I thought, was probably the bigger one with a ribbon around it. Manon's, I knew, was the one wrapped in layers of tissue paper, to make a weird colour spectrum. Lorcan's was presumably the one that was messily (or lazily) wrapped in newspaper, and Scorpious' was definitely the one wrapped in plain green paper. Heather's, the small one in the corner, was wrapped in a wrapping paper complete with little snitches.

"3, 2, 1!" Rose giggled, and began to tear into her pile of presents, as did everyone else. I heard loud gasps and thank you's around the living room, and people hugging each other. I ripped open my presents, receiving sweets from most people, and of course the traditional Weasley jumper, which Molly seemed to have made for _everyone_. I began to clear up the mess of wrapping paper, when I saw I had missed one.

"Hey, you have forgotten mine!" Heather exclaimed, picking up the little package on the floor, amidst the wrapping paper.

I picked it up, watching her smirking, and fiddled with it, before carefully opening it at the corner. When I saw a blue flash from inside, my heart almost stopped. Quidditch tickets?!

I tore the rest of the paper off in haste, and revealed two blue Quidditch tickets to see Puddlemere against Chudley Canons. I felt my mouth fall open, and stared at Heather in wonder. She simply smiled, tucking a stray blonde strand of hair out of her still-smirking face.

"You-you-you…" I gaped.

"I-I-I what?" She said.

I decided not to try and create another sentence, and just shook my head smiling. Quidditch tickets were so expensive, and she got _two_. Two. That meant someone else had to come too. My mind first went to Scorpious, my fellow Quidditch fan. Then I remembered Heather was also a die-hard Quidditch fan. Why not?

"There are two tickets so you can take-" She began, but I cut her off.

"Will you go with me?" I said, looking into her eyes. She looked shocked at first, then smiled widely, and nodded quickly, seeming extremely excited. Scorpious was oblivious to the fact I had just shot him down, as he was in the process of thanking Rose for her present. With his mouth. Nice.

Heather was in the middle of opening my present to her, and I saw her gasp, then freeze as she finished tearing off the wrapping paper. I smiled and ran a hand through my black hair, and watched her as she clapped a hand over her mouth, and pulled out her present.

I had gotten her an old set of healing books, because she once mentioned that when she finished Hogwarts she would like to become a healer. She flicked through the worn pages of one of the volumes. I had found them at an old bookshop in Hogsmeade weeks ago, before the ball, because I knew her reaction would be something like this.

"Thanks Al, seriously" She said, and leaned over and hugged me for a moment. I breathed in her intoxicating smell of Vanilla, and found myself wanting to hug her for longer. She pulled away, and put her presents into a box to carry upstairs. A pygmy puff was perched on top of her stack of gifts, which was courtesy of Manon, and Heather had named it Luciana. Oh how original.

I also put my presents into a big bag, hanging onto the little key ring of a nimbus 2100, which Elodie had very kindly got me. I swung it around my fingers, leaning back and taking in the atmosphere of Christmas. I suddenly noticed that Jordan was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Lorc, where is Jordan?" I queried, looking at him curiously.

"She left" He smiled, not looking sad at all.

"Why?" I asked.

I saw Manon blush, along with a slightly embarrassed Lorcan, and heard Rose giggle quietly.

"Long story" Manon whispered, flicking one of her brown-blue curls behind her shoulder. I shrugged it off as nothing, and continued to play with my key ring.

We were going ice skating later on the frozen pond outside, and we all decided to go upstairs and get washed and dressed. I walked up the stairs, vaguely hearing music coming from the girls room. Typical. I noticed on my bed the grey t shirt I saw Heather wearing yesterday, and I picked it up slowly. When I picked it up a strong smell of her body spray, mixed with her natural smell, came off the t shirt, and I found myself leaving it on the end of my bed, not putting it back into the case.

"We got about half an hour until lunch; you want to play some exploding snap?" Scorpious suggested, walking in.

**HEATHER POV**

I was a professional ice skater, well, I was better than Manon. Then again, most people are.

We were going out to the frozen pond in half an hour and I gathered up my presents, putting them in my cupboard, keeping Luciana next to Lucian on Manon's bed.

I still couldn't get over the absolutely adorable present Lorcan got Manon. I remember Manon saying once that if she could have the best present in the world, it would be the stars in the sky, as she is a keen astronomer. And what did Lorcan get her? A star. Not literally. He found this muggle thing where you can sign something and you get to name a star and own it. Your own star.

Rose was in the process of 'prepping' herself for ice skating, we had only just had lunch. I rolled my eyes as she undid her braids, her red hair floating out in waves. I pulled my own hair into a ponytail, then, suddenly remembering what Albus had said last night, I quickly dropped my ponytail, blushing at the memory. I pulled on my complimentary Weasley jumper, which had a large 'H' in the middle, in a light blue colour.

On my way to the bathroom, I noticed the mini bottle of Amortentia was lying carelessly on the bedside table, but I swung round to quickly, and the bottle popped open, half of it leaking out, but I managed to rescue the other half, bottling it back up quickly. I scolded my clumsiness when I noticed the 50% had leaked onto a white t shirt on the floor.

I suddenly had a bright idea.

I picked up the t shirt, and sure enough, it smelt like Albus. To me at least. Because it was Amortentia.

I smiled wickedly to myself, and a small plan formed in my head. I decided I would try it out on Rose first.

"Rosie, do you know whose t shirt this is?" I smiled innocently, holding the t-shirt out to her.

She plucked it out of my hands, examined it, and then brought it up to her face and inhaled deeply.

"Scorpious'" She said simply. Yes, it definitely worked. Whoever smelt it, would smell whoever they liked, along with various other things, but more importantly, who they liked.

I walked out of the room, bumping into Scorpious on the way out. I smirked. Here was my next target, though I knew the answer already.

"Hey, Scorp, do you know whose t shirt this is? I think they dropped it." I fluttered my eyelashes, and held out the t shirt again.

He too picked it up, looked at it, and then smelt it.

"Rose's" He smiled, giving it back to me and walking back down the hall. I smiled widely, and skipped down the hall, swinging the t shirt back and forth. I turned the corner, and Manon was there, coming out of the bathroom.

"Hey, Manon. So, do you, or do you not, like Lorcan?" I smiled evilly.

"I don't!" She said quickly, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Okay, whatever. Oh by the way, someone dropped their t shirt, and I don't know whose it is, do you?" I said, holding it out to her. Oh this was priceless.

She picked it up, and of course as it was everyone's first instinct, she smelt it.

"Lorcan's" She said, looking slightly confused, holding out the t shirt for me to take.

"Okay! Thanks!" I said. Well that cleared one thing up. I decided I would now seek out Lorcan, just for a fourth opinion on whose t shirt it was. I found him on the floor below, waiting for Lysander to finish in the bathroom.

"Lorcan!" I exclaimed, making him double take in surprise. "I found this t shirt earlier, and I couldn't help wonder if you knew who might have lost it?"

He fell straight into my trap, and grabbed the t shirt and looked over it, and then, yep, he smelt it.

"Manon?" He said, looking confused as he handed it back.

"Ok, thanks, bye!" I continued along on the current floor, to come across Fred and Lysander.

"Hey, guys, I found this shirt in my room and I don't know whose it is?" I mumbled, still finding my prank incredibly hilarious. Fred fell straight first into the trap, and took the t shirt out of my hands, gave it a sniff and rolled his eyes.

"It's Brittany's. For sure" He smirked, tossing the shirt to Lysander, who also smelt it, frowning at Fred.

"It smells like Lily's…" He said, passing it back to Fred, who smelt it again. All this while I was trying not to burst out in laughter.

"Nope. I am one hundred percent sure that is Brittany's." Fred said, passing it back to me before Lysander could grab it.

"Don't worry, I will just go and ask someone else" I smirked, throwing the shirt over my shoulder. I actually began to get curious as to whose shirt it actually was. I looked at it more carefully, and wandered back upstairs. I was about to walk into our room, when I was cornered by Albus.

"Hey, Heather. Listen I really want to thank you for-Is that my shirt?" He said abruptly, gesturing to the white fabric that was slung across my shoulder. If I gave it to him and he said who it smelt like, It could potentially hit me like a tonne of bricks, if it was some girl in Slytherin, or if it was one of my friends.

I looked at him as he cautiously took the shirt from my grasp, and I watched as he began to put it over his shoulder, but he paused as if he smelt something weird, and brought the shirt closer to his face.

"Have you worn this?" He said.

"What?" I said, genuinely confused.

"It smells like you"

My heart stopped.

It was still covered in Amortentia. Which meant you smelt what you liked. A lot. He just said it smelt like me.

My heart was pounding against my chest. Did this mean…?

"No. No I haven't worn it" I whispered, and he just shrugged and sauntered back into his room. I took a moment to return to my usual breathing pattern, and then a huge smile spread across my face.

I wandered slowly back into my room, still feeling dizzy.

"Heather? Are you ok?" Roxy queried, looking at me with concern, rummaging around to find her ice skates in her bag. "We have 5 minutes until skating!" She said, as I flopped down on my bed, still feeling slightly light headed.

"Yep, whatever" I murmured.

As I lay on my bed, I could vaguely hear Manon's music echoing throughout the room.

_He takes my time_

_And I don't mind_

_He makes me feel like, like I can see for miles_

_He changes the weather, in my bones_

_Seems like it's never, getting cold._


	16. You're A Risk Worth Taking

**ALBUS POV**

New Year's eve, I thought, as I stared silently at the ceiling. It was 8:00 am, but it being the holidays, no one was awake, except for probably Molly and Mum, who were renowned early risers. My thoughts were clouded with the thought of Treacle tart and Heather. As per usual.

It was New Year's Eve, and the holidays had flown by in a blur of newly-found memories and enjoyments. I smiled, remembering our ice skating session the other day.

"_Albus, shut up, you have to move your feet, moron" Heather laughed, and I tried to aim my focus towards my feet on the slippery ice, but my attention kept wandering to the face that she was holding my hand. _

"_I'm trying!" I said, but unable to stop the small smile escaping. _

"_Well try harder you-" She began, before I slipped, and still holding onto her hand, dragged her down with me. _

"_Al-you're-such-an-idiot!" She gasped in between bursts of laughter, which obviously made me laugh as well._

_We lay there laughing on the ice for about 10 minutes, watching the snow fall and decorate the trees and the grass. _

I smiled at the memory, and then noticed that Lorcan was also awake. He sat up, looking terrified for a moment, and then looking relaxed. He must have remembered Jordan was no longer here. I felt happy for him, to be honest. Maybe he and Manon would get somewhere this time.

"Morning, Lorc" I mused, ruffling my hair slightly. He gave me a lazy half smile, and began to pull on his t shirt, and I swung my legs out of bed. I noticed Scorpious' bed was not occupied, and decided he must be downstairs as well.

I pulled on my ever so classy Weasley jumper, and jeans, and finished with some socks. As Lorcan and I walked past the girl's room, we noticed it was still occupied.

They were singing extremely loudly along to Manon's CD player, and I peeked in, to see them dancing around the room, and I laughed to myself.

Lorcan smirked, his eyes glued to Manon, who was in the process of brushing her hair, and my gaze wandered to Heather, whose bed was strewn with the healing books I had got her for Christmas.

"Well, well, well, Ladies, what do we have here?" Lorcan queried, marching into the room.

They all froze, all in various stages of doing their hair.

Roxy was the first one who burst out laughing, and then so did everyone else. I smiled as I heard Heathers tinkly laugh echo throughout the room.

We headed downstairs to breakfast together, and on the way we bumped into Teddy and Victoire, who were also going down to breakfast, and I caught a glimpse of the sparkly white engagement ring on Toire's hand. I wasn't going to lie and say I wasn't looking forward to the wedding.

On arriving to the Living room, it was much the same as yesterday, except the mistletoe rate hat decreased slightly, thank god. Though, I did see Scorpious attempting to lead Rose towards a stray piece in the corner.

I helped myself to a slice of toast, and munched thoughtfully on it, wandering over to an empty armchair by the tree.

I was shaken out of my thoughts, as Fleur clapped her hands. "Cheeldren, tonight iz zee Nouvelle Year, which means zere will be a petite party" She smiled, as I heard various groans and cheers from around the small room. I turned in my seat, to see quite a commotion.

"Do it, idiot!" I heard Rose say. I noticed she was talking to Hugo, who was in quite a sticky situation. He was caught under the mistletoe.

With Elodie.

I noticed Lily laughing to herself, as Elodie raised her eyebrow, looking quite nonplussed at the whole thing. Hugo on the other hand, looked like he was about to wet himself.

Elodie finally seemed to get bored, and grabbed Hugo's shoulders, and pressed her lips onto his, pulling back quickly, and stepping out of the force. Hugo stood in a trance for a few moments, before quickly following Elodie upstairs. I chuckled at them, sipping my coffee.

"What's that?" I said, looking at the letter Scorpious was reading, as he lounged on his bed, whilst I was fixing my hair for the 'party'.

"A letter from Asa, you know, the one in Gryffindor" He mused, skimming over the page.

"Is that the one going out with Elise?" Lorcan chipped in, fixing his collar.

"Yep, Heather thinks they're 'so cute' or something" I shrugged. I knew Asa used to go out with Roxy, but I heard he was actually a nice guy.

"You ready?" I said, glancing up at my friends, who were frowning at the letter.

"Yep, shall we go?" Scorpious said, running a hand through his hair, which was a bit messier than usual. Maybe he was trying out the 'Albus' look.

We strolled down the stairs, Lorcan going two at a time, as per usual. When we reached the bottom, the Living room had been completely transformed. The usual dull furniture had been moved to the side, and the whole room was illuminated by white twinkly lights, and Manon's CD player was already on the go.

My grandparents were going for it on the makeshift dance floor, much to my horror.

I caught sight of Heather, who was standing in the corner, in a very pretty simple white dress, her hair in waves around her shoulders. I felt my heart do that weird flip-flop, and I felt like I was on a weird high.

Next to her, was an equally nicely dressed Manon, with her Nirvana t shirt tucked into a short skater skirt, with her classic black shoes. Lorcan was in some sort of daze, so I pushed him, making him trip down the last few stairs. I made my own way over to them, following Lorcan. It was currently only 9 pm, and everyone was anxious for New Year, I could tell.

We danced for a good 2 hours, I think, until the part calmed down a bit.

**HEATHER POV**

This was it, it was nearly New Year. 10 minutes to be precise. Manon had set up her little music machine in the corner, and was playing some slow muggle song, which was rather relaxing me. I sank into one of the small sofas, and twirled my blonde hair around my finger. It had been an amazing year, I thought. It had been made a lot of memories and friends.

I noticed Albus was walking over, wearing a traditional Weasley jumper, and he smiled at me as he ran a hand through his hair. I couldn't help but smile back, and I felt that recurring warm feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew it, that I had officially fallen for his _charming_ self, but I never could imagine him feeling the same way, which crushed me a bit. Just a little bit.

As I looked up at him, everything came back to me, in a flurry, in a blur of happiness and arguments, in a blizzard of wonderful times and ones where I hated him. But most of all, the day we first met;

_I shoved my way through the crowd of idiotic small people, I mean they were the same age as me, but I was getting considerably annoyed at the lack of space due to all these annoying girls chattering about their summer holidays and what not. I sighed, walking down the train, searching for an empty compartment. It was my first term, and I had no friends. Not one friend yet._

_I gave up on trying finding an empty one, so I just opened the next one I saw. _

_Inside was an elegant redheaded girl, chatting to a mixed race girl with a pink streak in her dark hair. Opposite them was a brunette girl, who had flashing green eyes, and was talking to a boy with black hair and similar eyes. _

"_Hi, I'm Heather, do you mind if I sit here? There is nowhere else" I muttered. _

"_Sure! Why not?" The Redhead gushed. "I'm Rose, this is Roxy, and this is Manon and Albus!" She finished gesturing to the boy. I narrowed my eyes at him for a minute, I wasn't getting a good feel off of him, and I felt a little empty looking at him. _

_However when he looked up to meet my gaze, my stomach did a small cartwheel, which was a feeling I didn't like very much, I decided, so when he smiled I rolled my eyes back. He looked a bit taken aback, but he was having a weird effect on me, and I wasn't going to stand for it._

I was a very odd child, I thought, as Albus was walking towards me, that stomach cartwheel was returning, but this time it was 1000 times stronger and I didn't mind one bit.

"Hey" He smiled, laying his butterbeer down on the small table next to the sofa we were on. I felt my heart flutter when he shuffled closer to me, trying to remember how to breathe.

"Hey. Having fun?" I gestured to the still standing party-goers, Victoire, Dominique, Teddy and Roxy still going strong.

"Yeh, bit tired now. Ready for the countdown?" He smirked, raising his eyebrows.

I sucked in a deep breath, "Sure" I said, fiddling with the cushion on the sofa. My heart went at 3018391 miles per hour when he suddenly put his hand over mine.

"You ok?" He said, looking at me with concern.

"Yep, fine" I smiled, taking a sip of my butterbeer. I don't know what was wrong with me at the moment, but I felt like I was on some kind of high, but feeling like something was missing inside me. I inwardly kicked myself for my odd philosophical nature, when I noticed he had removed his hand from mine. I felt a bit cold all of a sudden, and this feeling was not normal for me, and I kicked myself again.

5 minutes.

"5 minutes" Albus mused, ruffling his hair. "So, McAffrey, who are you kissing at midnight?" He smirked.

It caught me by surprise, and I snorted loudly. Very unladylike.

"No one would want to kiss me, moron" I laughed, while he just looked confused.

"That's not true" He said, shaking his head slightly. This confused me a little bit.

"Well, Potter, which lucky lady are you kissing at midnight?" I laughed.

He shrugged, "I don't think she knows yet".

"Do you plan to tell her?" I mused, smirking.

"Nope, I will just spring it on her" He smiled, drumming his fingers on the table. I felt my mood sink a tiny bit, only because I didn't know who this 'lucky' victim was.

"Can you tell me, at least?" I whined, putting on my best cute face. He looked conflicted for a moment, and then shook his head. It was worth a try, I thought.

3 minutes.

"3 minutes, ladies and gentlemen, till the New Year begins! Find that lucky person who is to be your midnight delight!" Molly shouted over the noise. Everyone began fumbling about, finding that lucky 'victim' for midnight, while I and Albus remained on the couch.

"Aren't you going to go and find her then?" I mumbled, playing with the hem of my dress.

"Hmm, not yet" He said, stretching. I scanned the room in search of the girl it could possibly be. It couldn't be Manon; Lorcan would stab anyone who got in his way. It couldn't be Roxy, because they were related. Same with Rose. It couldn't be Elodie or Catherine or Brittany, they were already occupied... There was no one else…

Apart from me.

No.

It couldn't be me?

I glanced over at him, to see him smiling at me, almost as if he knew what I was deducing.

1 minute.

"Wait- I- I- no- wait- not- m- me- what- no" I stuttered, my voice failing me, along with what seemed like my breathing system.

He just kept smiling, and raised his eyebrow suggestively.

Oh My God.

It was me.

40 seconds.

"What- you- like- me?" I managed to get out.

He smiled slightly. "You're such an idiot, McAffrey."

Right, Heather, in, out, in, out. I tried to get back to my usual breathing pattern as he continued to look into my eyes. Hypnotized, that was it. I was hypnotized by his deep green eyes, swirled with wisps of blue and grey. I could vaguely hear the music which was still playing in the background, but was so completely and utterly distracted.

I could smell his smell. His smell. The smell I couldn't put my finger on, the smell of sunshine and happiness, and the smell that smelt like home. Maybe, this one time, i didn't care about anything else; I didn't care about how witty my reply was, how annoying he was or how much I hated him.

Because I didn't.

At all.

He inched closer as the clock kept ticking down to midnight.

20 seconds.

"Are you sure-?" He whispered, his gaze fixed on my mouth. I bit my lip nervously; I wasn't too sure what he was suggesting. To be honest I was way past caring. At this close proximity, I couldn't even begin to think straight. I just nodded slowly as the clock kept ticking.

10 seconds.

By now our heads were dangerously close together, this was it, whatever it was.

"5" He whispered, my heart racing, "4" I breathed in "3" He moved even closer, "2" Everything seemed to freeze, "1" He breathed.

My head was in a flurry of butterflies, but everything stopped when he did what he did next.

He kissed me.

It was extremely gentle and hesitant, my cold lips meeting his warm ones. My hands which were once floating awkwardly by my side settled on his shoulders, and I felt his land on my waist.

Everything else seemed to stop, frozen in time, just me and him. I could vaguely hear the music floating through the background.

_Oh everybody know, you're a risk worth taking…_

Suddenly a loud firework went off, and I broke the kiss reluctantly, turning to see everyone gathered outside watching the display, leaving just me and Albus alone inside. The white glow of fairy lights still prominent through the otherwise darkness of the room.

I hesitantly turned back to face Albus, crossing my legs on the sofa.

"Not bad, McAffrey" He smirked, looking at me. I felt my mouth fall open slightly.

This made me slightly frustrated. Did it mean nothing to him? He didn't feel anything? I decided I would make him feel something.

"What?" He said, I had probably been looking at him for a while.

"Moron" I muttered, then leaned forward and kissed him again, this time with a little more energy.

He seemed surprised.

Just as he was getting into it, I broke it off.

"Wha-?" He said, his eyes opening.

"What's wrong, Al?" I said, inspecting my nails and acting like I didn't feel anything.

"You-y-you" I looked at him expectantly, but he just gave up and sank back down onto the sofa.

"I hate you, Heather McAffrey" He smiled.

"I hate you too, Albus Potter" I said.

Just as we were finishing our little argument of hatred, Albus stood up.

"Shall we go and watch the Fireworks?" He suggested, holding out his hand for me to take. I hesitantly took it, and we wandered out through the door, and watched the perfect fireworks display, courtesy of Fred and Roxy, with the help of their Dad.

"Amazing" Albus uttered, completely in awe, as another flame-like blue rocket flew up into the air, bursting into a 'Happy New Year!" banner. I smiled, and leaned back onto the wall.

Suddenly I saw something move, and noticed Manon was sitting on the roof. However she was not alone. Lorcan was sat next to her. Oh, finally.

I turned my focus back to Albus, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to feel or how I wanted to go about whatever we had, but one thing I knew.

He was a risk worth taking.


	17. Just To Relive the Start

**ALBUS POV**

Back to school today, I thought, as I lazily packed my belongings into my case. I seemed to have misplaced my Quidditch jumper and it had re appeared in Lorcan's case.

"Scorp, get up you idiot, we're leaving in like half an hour!" Lorcan exclaimed, shoving a sleeping Scorpious off of his bed, causing him to hit the ground with a thump. He then moved on and proceeded to do the same to Lysander, who was stirring slowly.

"Back to school then" Scorpious yawned, ruffling his pale blonde hair, and then sighing heavily. I nodded, and Lorcan grimaced slightly.

Suddenly the door flew open to reveal Elodie, wearing a loose jumper and shorts, and whose hair was in an extremely messy bun, curls of blue falling around her face. Scorpious raised an eyebrow.

"Erm, Lysander? Lily wants to ask you something" She said, crossing her arms. Lysander shrugged and got up and walked out, leaving a half packed case on his bed. I shook my head, and watched as Lorcan cursed under his breath, before throwing the rest of Lysander's belongings into the case and shutting it with quite some force.

I carefully tucked my precious Quidditch tickets into the small pocket inside my case, smiling with excitement at the prospect of going to a game. With Heather. Well that wasn't the only reason he was excited, but it was quite a large one.

I dragged my case downstairs, to bump into Victoire and Dominique, nattering in rapid French, presumably about wedding plans, the former looking extremely excited. Teddy had told me to keep it a secret, but they had decided on getting married on Valentine's Day, on beach by Shell Cottage.

By the door was a pile of Hogwarts cases, and I carelessly dumped mine on top of James', who's case had odd bits of clothing hanging out of the side. I narrowly dodged Lucian and Luciana, who were perched on top of the pile of cases, making annoying squeaky noises.

I began to wander back to the kitchen, where everyone was picking at the food whilst being busy with back to school errands. I picked up a piece of bread, and began to eat it, when I heard loud voices coming down the stairs behind me.

"Maybe, if you hadn't left your stupid cat there, I wouldn't have trodden on it!"

"Well, maybe if you weren't so clumsy, it wouldn't have been a problem!" Said the second voice, and I turned around to see Heather and her sister, Catherine, mid argument about that annoying cat. Catherine flounced down the stairs, and walked towards Louis, who was talking to Fred.

My breath caught for a moment, as Heather walked down the stairs, her blonde hair loose down her back, and she had her signature band t shirt, which said 'You Me at Six' which I knew Manon had one of them as well, whatever it meant. She was frowning at her sister, and then she turned around and made eye contact with me, and she smiled at me.

I suddenly remembered how to function, and smiled back, forgetting about the bread that was in my hand. It wasn't as awkward as it should have been, I had to admit, considering we kissed and all.

"Hey, Al" She smiled, pouring herself some orange juice, while I just stared at her. It was annoying, to be honest, that I didn't have the guts to do anything about whatever this was, and that I constantly acted like an idiot. Plus I bet she didn't even like me.

"Alright kids! The train leaves in 15 minutes, let's go!" Uncle Bill's voice echoed across the room. It was then a flurry of who could find their case and get out of the door first.

What fun.

After the war to get our cases, we all stood outside on the grass, the adults stayed inside, with the exception of Ron and Dad, who had the joyous job of getting us all to the station by apparating. Some of us older ones knew how to, and James, Molly, Fred and Brittany had already gone. I held onto my father's arm, and felt the familiar sucking sensation in my stomach as we apparated.

I thankfully felt the ground below my feet as we entered platform 9 ¾, to see the train getting ready to leave.

I waved to my cousins as they went off to find their friends and compartments. Lorcan, Scorpious, Rose, Roxy, Manon, Heather and I boarded the train, lucky enough to find a compartment pretty quickly, next to Hugo, Elodie, Lily and Lysander's one.

Lorcan and Manon settled in the corner, listening to Lorcan's iPod together, and Scorpious and Rose sat opposite, talking about the coming term. Roxy perched in the other corner, flicking through the Quibbler, looking extremely confused. I couldn't blame her; I didn't see how Lorcan or Manon understood it.

I sat next to Heather, who was also listening to some muggle iPod thing, which connected to these little round things which went in your ears, which I assume meant you could hear whatever was playing. Lorcan had tried to explain it to me, with the help of Manon and Heather, but I still couldn't really grasp it.

Heather must have noticed I was looking at her, as she took out one of the ear things, and handed it to me, gesturing to her ear. I contemplated it for a minute, then thought, why not? I put it in my ear, and a flood of music echoed through it.

_I could follow you to the beginning_

_Just to relive the start_

_Maybe then we'd remember to slow down_

_At all of our favorite parts_

_All I wanted was you_

I glanced at her as the music played, and she was watching the trees go past outside the window, and I felt a weird tingly sensation in my stomach. Not again. But this time, I didn't mind so much, as I was caught up in the moment.

Our journey was over too quickly, for my liking, I had grown to appreciate muggle music in that brief time.

I had done the change into my robes, and we were now heading down to find a carriage to get to school. We had to wait a good 5 minutes before one was available, and even then there were two people in it.

"Er, we will go in a different one, don't worry" Manon said, dragging Lorcan and Roxy with her. Josh Abbot was in the one behind, so Roxy didn't mind.

Heather and I got into the occupied one, to find it was in fact Scorpious' cousin, Asa Knott, and his girlfriend Elise.

"Hey, Asa" Scorpious muttered, pulling Rose to sit in the corner. Asa smiled at him, and then returned to his conversation with Elise.

Elise was a Slytherin, and typically quite pretty and cunning. She was mixed race, with curly brown hair and dark brown eyes, and was actually quite nice, I did have a few classes with her, I thought.

Asa, on the other hand, was a bit more arrogant, but was head over heels for Elise, Rose had said. He had short brown hair, a bit shorter than mine, and was 'hot' according to Dominique. They were cute together, however.

"Heather, right?" Asa said, switching on a charming smile, and shaking her hand, and I felt a weird pang of anger.

Luckily we arrived at school, and I waved to Asa and Elise, who wandered off to the great hall, and Heather and I waited for our friends who were in a carriage or two behind. It was a comfortable silence for about 3 minutes, until we saw their carriage pull up.

Much to my disgust, Scorpious lifted Rose out of the carriage, like she was his queen or something. Heather pulled a face which made me chuckle.

It was really confusing, this way I felt, and I didn't like how I couldn't control it.

**HEATHER POV**

After a really non eventful carriage ride to school, we made our way to the great hall, for the beginning of the spring term feast. It wasn't that special, just a short speech from McGonagall, and then the classic food.

"Welcome back, boys and girls!" McGonagall announced. "I hope every one of you has a lovely spring term, and work hard. Now on with the feast!" She said, and I was surprised at the brief speech.

"I wish I was in Hufflepuff" Roxy said wistfully, her gaze fixed on Josh.

"Wow. Thanks Rox!" I said, beaming at her, picking at my chicken.

"No-I mean- oh whatever" She said, her head resting on her hand.

"Shall we go and sit with the others?" I said, eyeing the Ravenclaw table over Roxy's head, seeing that Scorpious and Albus had sneaked from their table. Roxy nodded and we carefully got up, and then ducked and ran towards the others.

"Hey" Manon said, she was next to Lorcan and Albus. I took a seat opposite Albus, who seemed a bit flustered. I brushed it off, and joined in with Rose's conversation.

"So, I bumped into Jordan on the way here" She began, and I saw Lorcan wince. "She was being all bitchy, like saying how she dumped Lorcan, and how he was a really bad kisser" Rose snorted. I laughed as well, and Albus chucked slightly. Was he ok?

I picked at the food Manon hadn't eaten, waiting for Roxy to finish so we could go up to our dorms.

"Rox, are you done?" I sighed; she was on her third chicken leg.

"Hmm, yep" She decided, wiping her mouth with a napkin, turned, and winked at Josh, then grabbed my arm and we walked out. I turned quickly and waved at our friends, who were laughing at Roxy's behavior.

We made our way up to our dorm room, and discovered Lana and Mia were already there, unpacking.

"Hey, Mia, Lana. Nice Christmas'?" I said, smiling as I plonked myself down on my bed.

Mia nodded, her long curly blonde ringlets bouncing animatedly in the process. "It was wonderful" She sighed, in her slight Irish accent. Lana also nodded, brushing her long black hair.

I changed out of my uniform, into my comfy blue onesie. I walked to the bathroom, following Roxy.

"So, you ready for the term?" I smirked, as she braided her wild hair.

"Yeh, who knows what's in store, especially for a certain pair" She smiled wickedly.

"What? Who?!" I exclaimed, but she just smiled, and continued brushing her teeth. I had a moment of confusion, and then decided to let it go. For now.

I lay down on my bed, rereading letters from the Holidays. Including one from my parents, who lived back in London, who I had not seen much of over the holidays. It was quite a lengthy letter, and just stated how they hoped me and Catherine were doing well, and getting good grades. I didn't know about Catherine, but I was doing alright in most classes. Apart from Ancient runes, in which Albus had been distracting me, and I had just scraped an A in my final exam last term, but I was pretty sure I was heading for a D. But I hadn't told my parents that.

I sighed, as I heard the owls hooting in the distance, and the quiet chatter of the older students in the common room.

It was going to be a good term.


	18. Like Puzzle Pieces

HEATHER POV

It was announced! Victoire and Teddy would be getting married on Valentine's day!

Rose delightedly skim read the letter from Molly, and burst into squeals of joy.

"FINAALLLYYYYY" She squeaked, running around the common room, Roxy smirking after her. We were all gathered in the Ravenclaw common room, as usual, and the boys were off talking about something, and Albus kept glancing at me, with some weird expression on his face. What had I done? Nothing was the answer to that.

I lazily skimmed through Rose's copy of witch weekly, grimacing at the awful fashion pages.

It was Saturday, and we couldn't be bothered to go out to Hogsmeade, as the weather looked like it was going to rain.

I turned when I heard a noise, and watched as Albus marched out towards the Gryffindor common room. I looked questioningly at Scorpious, who shrugged and grabbed the letter off of Rose, and began to read it.

"What's up with Al?" Roxy said, securing the pink elastic at the bottom of her braid.

"I have no idea, he just stomped out" Scorpious shrugged again, as Lorcan just shook his head slightly. I thought about what could have happened, but I came out blank.

I was about to say something, when Dominique burst in, followed by Lewis Davies, and she looked quite panicked.

"What's wrong with Albus?" She queried.

"Oh, nothing, he's just in an emotional turmoil" Scorpious smirked, and Rose chuckled. Dominique looked confused for a moment, then shrugged and pulled Lewis with her and they went and sat down on one of the sofas in the corner.

I battled with my conscience for a moment, then got up and walked out. I just caught Lorcan and Manon's conversation.

"Where is she going?" Lorcan whispered.

"Leave it" Manon replied.

I was going to find Albus.

ALBUS POV

I seemed to be fidgeting all the time. And I had these weird sensations in my stomach. And I was getting all fuzzy in my brain. WHAT ON EARTH WAS HAPPENING!?

I lay back on my bed. What was going through me? I had no idea. I was in a jumble of emotions, and I think it was down to one person. That one person I couldn't seem to get away from.

I got up from my bed, and began pacing the room, thinking of something I could waste my time on. Where was everyone else? I had no clue. I glanced out of the window, still feeling uncomfortable.

Then I had an idea.

Quidditch?

I grabbed my Slytherin Quidditch robes, which were strewn over the edge of my bed, and picked up my broom from the cupboard. I smiled to myself as I sped down the stairs, all the way to the changing rooms.

I smelt the familiar smell of sweat and muddy Quidditch players, and felt slightly relieved.

I thought I heard someone behind me, but I waved it off as nothing but a house elf or something. I quickly changed into my robes, and flung the door open, to reveal a very windy day. I inhaled the fresh air, this was what I needed.

I took off into the sky, trying to remember what Scorpious had said about the execution of a Wronksi Feint, but my thoughts were completely clouded. With _her_.

Her sparkling blue eyes, which matched the colour of the ocean. Her dark blonde hair, that shone like spun gold in the sunlight. I surprised myself at these odd thoughts; I never really was that poetic. Her smile that-

No. Stop. She would never go out with you, idiot, I thought to myself, beginning my third lap of the pitch. I noticed the sky had gotten suspiciously cloudy, and I thought it might rain.

I shrugged and completed a few loops and turns, and the occasional upside down lap.

I was just giving up on myself; again, when I was sure I heard something behind me. This time I was positive it was not a house elf. I whipped around, to see a face which made me almost fall off my broom.

Heather.

I felt myself almost being magnetically drawn to her, and I felt my heart do that weird fast-thing.

She was also in Quidditch robes, a grin lighting up her pretty face, blonde hair loose and flying madly around her mischievous expression. I couldn't help but smile back, my words failing me otherwise.

"Hey, Potter" She said, shaking her hair out of her face.

"McAffrey" I nodded. I tried not to sound too happy, and wiped the smile off my face. It was still a bit weird from New Years, and the weird emotions going through me at that particular moment.

"You not happy to see me?" She said, sticking out her bottom lip playfully, which made me smile, reluctantly, much to my inner torment's disgust.

"Yeh, whatever." I said, nonchalantly. She began making loops around me, so I groaned internally, and took off to do another lap.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, and took off after me. I forgot she was fast. Soon enough she caught up with me and I sighed, and gave up on trying to out fly her.

"What?" I said, turning my head to face her, to see her looking a tiny bit hurt.

"Oh, I'm sorry, please enlighten me on what I have done to upset you, your highness." She said, stopping in her tracks, I also stopped beside her, looking into her blue eyes.

"Nothing-I mean-I just-You-You-Can't-" I spluttered, as she raised an eyebrow. She still looked perfect. Wait, what?!

Oh screw it. I liked her.

A lot.

"Well?" She said, her voice echoing around my head.

I was about to answer, but a loud rumble of thunder rattled through the sky. I looked up to see the big grey rain cloud that was following me earlier, had finally reached us and it was going to down pour.

I turned my attention back to Heather, who was examining the raindrop that had landed neatly on the tip of her nose, making me chuckle.

"I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU ARE ANNOYED AT ME!" She shouted over the thunder.

"I'M NOT, I JUST, WELL, ITS HARD TO EXPLAIN" I yelled back, the rain beginning to fall faster onto us. I gave up on shouting, and gestured for us to land. She nodded and we flew back down so we could have our yelling battle on our feet. I was scared of what the outcome might be if we stayed up in the air. It could involve her pushing me off.

"Please tell me." She whispered, looking at her feet.

It broke my heart all over again, and I felt I surge of pain shoot through me. Not the physical kind, but the kind you feel when someone you like is sad, and when you don't know what to do to help them. But in this case I knew what I had to do. What was she trying to do to me?

"Heather-" I began, but then the thunder rattled louder, and the torrential rain started. I glanced up at her, to see her soaking blonde hair whipping around her face, and her teeth chattering in the cold. I wanted to go and hug her and take her inside, but I knew she wanted me to talk first. Now.

"You know what Al, I'll go first." She began, crossing her arms across her chest, clutching her broom in her left hand. "I like you. Ok? Not like in the way I like Lorcan or Scorpious. In the way Roxy likes Josh and in the way everyone knows Lorcan likes Manon. I really don't know how you feel, even after New Year, when I thought you might have liked me. But then it hit me. Who would, right? I mean look at the people I hang out with. Manon, she's French and almost perfect. Rose, who's smart and beautiful, and Roxy who's sporty and kind. My sister, she's tall and blonde and pretty, so why would anyone chose me over her? What have I got?" She finished.

"Everything" I whispered. It was true. She was like an angel. A sarcastic one, but an angel still. I was shocked at this side of her. Normally so witty and full of comebacks, not vulnerable, which was her current state.

She looked up as I said this, and something seemed to spark inside of her.

"You have everything I could ever want" I breathed, walking over to her slowly. I brushed the wet strands of her out of her face, and looking into her eyes.

"Everything"

**HEATHER POV**

Everything? I thought I had nothing, compared to other girls in my year. I wasn't pretty or beautiful like the rest of them.

Albus seemed to disagree with that.

"You have everything I could ever want" He finished, walking over to me and removing a stray piece of soaking blonde hair out of my face. I felt tingles as his hand made contact with my face. I stared up at his deep green eyes, smiling slightly.

"Shut up" I laughed quietly.

"I'm serious" He muttered, running a hand through his wet hair, which was falling in front of his eyes as he looked at the floor.

"So was I. I like you, Al." I whispered, taking a step backwards.

"I-erm-I" He stuttered, and I sighed, letting out a deep sigh. I was wrong, wasn't I? I always was. He never liked me.

I picked up my broom, which had been lying on the floor, and turned against the rain, and began to make my way back to the changing rooms. I knew Albus was still standing there, as I couldn't hear him following. Oh well.

"I LIKE YOU, YOU IDIOT!" His voice suddenly shouted across the wind, and I froze. Did he just…? I turned around slowly, to see him jogging towards me, raindrops dripping off his face.

"I like you, Heather McAffrey, since the day I saw you, however cliché that sounds, I knew you were a bit odd and different, but now I know that you're just what I need. I don't care, frankly, that other girls say they like me or want to go out with me, because yours is the only opinion I care about" He finished, breathless, licking a raindrop off his lips.

I stared at him, momentarily unable to talk. My heart was busy, on the other hand, beating way faster than it was meant to.

"You-" "Yes I like you, please don't make me say it again" He mumbled, ruffling his hair.

I leaned forward and kissed his cheek softly. "You don't have to" I said, looking at him through my lashes, to see him frozen with his hand in the process of combing through his hair. To be honest it surprised me slightly as well. I cleared my throat nervously, as he snapped back to reality.

"Just to-erm- add on to everything I just said, would you maybe-erm-want to- would you like to-erm- possibly-gooutwithme?" He stumbled over his words.

"Oh my, did Albus Potter just ask me to go out with him?" I faked a gasp, butterflies meanwhile fluttering in my stomach.

"Yes, Heather, will you do the honours of going out with me?" He said, raising an eyebrow, as he mock curtseyed at me. I contained my inner turmoil quite well, I think.

I nodded. "Yeh, why not?" I said, smiling, as he looked slightly surprised.

"Really?! I mean-erm-cool, yep, ok" He said, and I just giggled at him. Oh he was hopeless.

He did something unexpected then.

He slowly touched my hand, which was just lying at my side, and then he laced his fingers with mine. I was about to yank my hand out of his, but then I realised how perfectly our hands fit together, and how it was sort of like fate, in a way. We were completely different, but we fit together.

Like puzzle pieces.


End file.
